The recent New Edition biopic exposed us to an entirely new group of untapped talent. With the exception of Elijah Kelley and Luke James and Bryshere Gray, the rest of the members that rounded out the group were starring in what could easily become their first breakout role.
WENN
And that includes the young man who played Bobby Brown, Woody McClain. As audiences watched captivated by all the performances, people started digging and doing research into the young men we saw on screen. When it was Woody’s turn, people found some unflattering news, some tweets detailing his preference for White women…of course, at the expense of White women.
Digging through his Twitter archives, someone found tweets that read, as follows:
“When I’m famous I’m dating white women only.” 7/18/2011
“Really thinkin about finding a white girl. black girls are soooo overrated these days…wish [sic] man once said- if it aint whit [sic] it aint right lol”
“you sleep white chocolate taste [sic] wayyy better *wiz laugh* 7/19/2011
“If it ain’t white it aint right.” 6/5/2012
The news of the tweets came out earlier this month, just as we were all coming down from the high we got from the biopic. I decided not to write about it because it’s not exactly a new story. A Black man professing his love for White women, at the expense of his own, whether verbally or non verbally is cliche.
Shorly after the new broke, Woody defended himself tweeting a picture of himself and the Black woman he’s been in a relationship with for 10 years.
https://twitter.com/CarmaDee/status/828087898331193345
Even after the tweet, many argued that dating a Black woman doesn’t mean you like or respect them. A couple of Hip Hop verses will tell you that. And there are plenty of White people who date, have children with, and marry Black folk and are still racist.
Recently, during Essence’s Black Women in Music event, McClain further clarified his stance and explained those tweets.
See what he had to say.
“Listen, before New Edition came out. I do comedy. Woody does comedy. So it was a tweet that was taken out content what I said—the tweet that I wrote was ‘If it ain’t white it ain’t right.’ Me growing up through comedy, that’s a comedy reference. ‘Once you go Black, you never go back.’ That’s a comedy reference. So I feel like somebody took that tweet, added more Tweets, photoshopped it, undefeated. You will not beat Photoshop. And they’re adding more to my tweets, I love Black women. I always push for Black women. When I shoot my videos—go to follow me @woody_thegreat, you will see all my content. I promote Black love. If I was going to switch up, I would have did it three years ago when I started social media. You feel me? So there is no switching up for it. My mother is Black. My sister is Black. I love my Black queens. I push for positivity every time I do my comedy videos. I’m doing it to put us in a positive light. So I’m not even mad that this happened. I’m actually happy. So I want my little African-American brothers, listen Y’all gotta understand this is not a joke. It’s not sensitive, it’s not funny no more.”
What do you make of Woody’s comments? I tend to believe him. But we’ll be watching. If anything, this is a good lesson in watching what you say and tweet because what’s on the internet lives forever and you never know when it will come back to bite you.
Veronica Wells is the culture editor at MadameNoire.com. She is also the author of “Bettah Days.” You can follow her on Facebook and Twitter @VDubShrug.
