Raven-Symoné has been submerged under a tidal wave of harsh criticism because she said, in all of her blissful ignorance on national TV, that she would never hire anyone with “ghetto” or “ethnic” names. It is the latest in a long line of ludicrous public pronouncements that has turned her from a once beloved child actress into object of scorn, pity and derision.
Soon after the words tumbled from her lips and soared through the national airspace, Raven-Symoné has been seeking cover as she has been thoroughly denounced and mocked, even getting a metaphorical spanking from her own father.
But the blistering blowbacks are continuing from opposite ends of the social spectrum in America. A person named Tre Melvin, who is better known as “Watermelondrea,” and former “The Cosby Show” co-star Keshia Knight Pulliam weighed in on Raven-Symoné’s utterly asinine statement and, let’s just say that the former “That’s So Raven” star will suffer even more bruises to her already battered ego.
Pulliam went classy and exercised restraint when the obviously perturbed actress said that she would have been rejected by the woman named Raven-Symoné with the unnecessary dash at the end of her name (it’s called an “e-acute”)
“I guess she wouldn’t have hired me. I’ve got about the most ethnic name you can have!” Pulliam laughed sardonically in an obvious rebuke of Raven-Symoné’s line of thinking.
The person named Watermelondrea was far from kind. But before we get to the person’s video, Pulliam did circle around and offered empathy for a person who commits a faux pas in the public eye.
“On a show like ‘The View,’ that’s what they do. They sit around and they have conflicting opinions and they argue their opinions, so at the end of the day, it’s about being your authentic self,” Pulliam said to the HuffPost during an interview about her upcoming film “Will to Love.” “And if that is authentically her opinion, it’s hers. It doesn’t mean that I have to agree with it or you have to agree with it, or anyone else.”
Pulliam also said Raven-Symoné is finding out what it’s like to be a celebrity and offer up unpopular opinions, which she has done several times this year.
“It’s challenging having grown up the way she did. So from the other side of the coin, I empathize with her, where anything that she says and does is under the microscope,” Pulliam said. “So I’m not here to judge her or to bash her or anything like that. Ultimately, Raven has to kind of find her own and do it her own way.”
Watermelondrea was hardly as constrained in firing back Raven-Symoné. Take a look at the video by flipping the e-page. (Warning: very strong language).