Brooke Valentine Recalls Music Execs Saying She Was ‘Too Light-Skinned’ & Should Tan Like Ashanti In Resurfaced Clip

Brooke Valentine, Ashanti

Brooke Valentine Recalls Music Execs Saying She Was ‘Too Light-Skinned’ & Should Tan Like Ashanti In Resurfaced Clip

A resurfaced clip of Brooke Valentine opening up about early colorism in the music industry is going viral, sparking major convo online.

In a throwback episode of Tank’s R&B Money podcast, Brooke shared that when she first stepped into the game, music execs told her she was “too light-skinned” to sell rap music, pushing her to tan to look more like Ashanti. She stated:

“I was told I was too light-skinned to do ‘ghetto music,’ and you know I needed to tan. So I started tanning and burning myself up.”

 

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She shared that she started tanning around “3 times a week” with the execs telling her:

“Tanning is the new thing. You see Ashanti? She’s toasty.”

Brooke went on to state that now people believe she bleaches her skin, emphasizing that she’s simply stopped excessively tanning.

Social media users have been reacting to her resurfaced remarks, with some revisiting old photos of stars like Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Raven-Symoné, noting how much darker they appeared early in their careers and considering they may have just had a similar experience to Brooke’s.

What are your thoughts?