Clubhouse, the voice-based hot new social media app, only launched a few months ago and is still in its closed-beta testing phase but it’s already stirring up the sort of quick-twitch trouble a poorly-worded tweet can in even less time. Case in point, Mulatto, the Atlanta-based rapper who dropped her debut album this summer, is in hot water (again) for comments she reportedly made on the app.
According to fans who were participating in a chat room on the app with the burgeoning rap star — which, grain of salt here — Mulatto claimed that colorism doesn’t exist, drawing the ire of users on Twitter, who immediately berated her for a perceived lack of self-awareness. You may recall that Mulatto has already spent much of the year fending off accusations of colorism herself due to her controversial moniker — accusations that reportedly have her considering a permanent rebrand.
So Mulatto said that colorism doesn’t exist but goes by Mulatto…am I understanding correctly?
— Kalen Allen (@TheKalenAllen) December 1, 2020
Omg an artist named Mulatto is also colorist??? pic.twitter.com/HxvlNKHUnD
— ama (@aisforama) December 1, 2020
Of course, considering similar situations throughout the few months with rappers like Doja Cat, it’s probably healthy to be at least a little skeptical of the reports on Twitter. For one thing, Clubhouse doesn’t have a recording function, so it’s pretty much a game of Telephone once the conversation migrates back to Twitter, with users on the latter able to claim whatever they want and no way to confirm their accuracy.
Mulatto said colorism doesn’t exist? Her inner white woman is really starting to show pic.twitter.com/hIvXFy8Qtw
— Diamond Girl? (@LinaLaLocaa) December 1, 2020
Y’all should be giving Mulatto the same energy y’all gave Doja Cat
— abolish the grammys (@aleojanadnizur) December 1, 2020
ok mulatto baby i can’t defend you anymore you just digging yourself a bigger hole every week pic.twitter.com/E8jzzTXL80
— simoné b. ? (@dollasignsi) December 1, 2020
You should just automatically assume any person calling themselves "Mulatto" is a colorist…. Like, you couldn't come up with something else, Miss. Lousiana Purchase??
— Bella Goth (@HoodSocialism) December 1, 2020
I see everyone calling Mulatto colorist because she said colorism doesn’t exist on the clubhouse and I’m sitting here trying to look for video clips or screenshots of the conversation. And I don’t see any, can I get some receipts like…? pic.twitter.com/nmqEfL8Nqu
— Yasmeen Javid (@YasmeenJavid) December 1, 2020
For Mulatto to be trending weekly and it’s never about her music… which she releases a lot of… nor does it seem to even lead to curiosity streams. So why all the discourse for somebody who’s not even popping like that outside of the circles that keep discussing her? pic.twitter.com/wdmkaO38NK
— drug dealer (@FactsOnlyJas) December 1, 2020
For another, artists’ comments are consistently taken out of context by fans in order to make jokes or troll them. In the instance of the Doja Cat controversy earlier this year, fans upset with her for not following through on her raunchy promise when “Say So” reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 were the likely culprits for starting the rumor that led to Doja being accused of hanging out in racist chat rooms. For her part, Mulatto denied saying colorism doesn’t exist.
I WOULD NEVER SAY NO SHIT LIKE COLORISM DOESN’T EXIST!
— BIG LATTO ? (@mulatto) December 1, 2020
Please stop with the false narrative!
— BIG LATTO ? (@mulatto) December 1, 2020
Judging from Mulatto’s current predicament, it’s probable that even more controversies will spawn on Clubhouse in the future, as the nature of the app makes it even easier for them to slip up and harder than ever to control the narrative once they do. In this case, Mulatto’s best bet might just be to follow through on that name change as soon as possible and follow Doja’s example by dropping a string of unimpeachable performances. Nothing makes folks forget your faux pas like a catchy hit song.
