Video: Ne-Yo – “All the prettiest kids is light skinned… normally” UPDATED

Sandra Rose December 21, 2008

[UPDATED: Dec. 21, 2008 4:40 PM]

For those of you who missed it, this video was taken offline shortly after it appeared all over the Internet last week. Fortunately, WorldStarHipHop found the offensive clip and put it back online.

If celebs like Ne-Yo are going to make ignorant statements then they should expect people to comment on their ignorance.

~~Mmm-kay … the ignorance begins at the 7 minute mark.~~

I never thought I would hear an intelligent black man say some dumb shit like that. But I guess looks are deceiving.

Thanks to loyal reader Kay for the tip.

Kymystry

glad I got the white box … and since the foolishness wasn’t mentioned UNTIL the 7min mark … I’ll pass …
kwallace577

as much as i would like to take credit for sending the tip it won’t me.

yung berg started this here mess as of late. i mean the slave masters are really the ones who started it with picking the lighter ones for the house and regulating the darker ones to the field…

but in 2008 yung berg and his dark butts comment is to blame for this in the industry. imo. smdh at chimere. as the parent of a dark hued baby and a light one they are both beautiful.
kwallace577

oh and good morning.
Kymystry

YEAH … GOOD MORNING
http://myspace.com/diva_mama2 DivaMama

I don’t even want to see this mess. But according to his intepretation, that explains why he looks like a flying monkey from the Wizard of Oz.

Morning!
cinnamonkisses97

WTH !!!! , I can not believe he said that !!!!
Ecstracy

I think that the younger generation of entertainers are all stuck on the OJ train. My daughter is brown while my sons are as yellow as the color in the skittles rainbow, but the are all nice looking young people. Shame she wont be given a chance by idiots who think skin color and hair texture make a difference. Hey yall!
carmelita79

Neyo is a jerk. So what is he saying to his mother, sister, cousins?
mizzdallas

Someone spoke the truth the industry started all of this, young punk and now go-go with his poppin lip gloss, somepeople are just shallow and it makes me sick to my stomach
shunda

All shades of black are beautiful. I love my people. Now on the other hand all people can have ugly features and it has nothing to do with color.

Good Morning Fam!
chat bout

I never thought I would hear an intelligent black man say some dumb shit like that. But I guess looks are deceiving.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
intelligence and ne-yo can’t and should not be mixed-up in the same statement.what intelligent person say fu(krey as such? what he needs to do is grow some balls,kick down that closet door and get out.freaking idiot!
http://myspace.com/lorettadivine DivineBrown

Where his words misinterpreted in any way? I can’t watch it?

Neyo is not lightskinned his damn self! I don’t know why he would even hate on himself like that. I have to see it first.
kwallace577

why he gotta be called go-go mizzdallas? with his poppin lip gloss.

DEAD.
jazi65

Stupidity can be such a burden.
closetcolumnist

Thank you Ne-Yo for proving to Whitey that as Black people really hate ourselves. Oh, and that as a grown ass man you have worse grammar than a pre-school student. Use some of that money you earn so well to buy your way out of that slave mentality. BTW I am a lightskinned sista so please no one go blaming the lighter skinned ones.
licia

dang i wish people would move past this IGNIT( yeah that’s what i said) crap . i’m light skinned and i am offended. as shunda said all shades of black are beautiful.

gm all.
Imalover

Neo clearly is in the midst of an identity crisis. So he hates the fact that he’s stuck in the closet and he thinks babies that are of his complexion are not cute – textbook self-hate.

@ Divine, I usually have a problem comparing black people to monkeys for obvious reasons, but honey you hit the nail on the head with that one (seriously ROTFLMAO).

Good morning all.
PAHairston

Hello All. Sad to say, this “dumb shit” thinking has been around since we first arrived in this country as slaves and has some how survived. “Light, bright, damn near white”, “paper-sack brown”, “high yeller”, were of course the “house ni@@ers”, the better Negro, back in the day. Hollywood pretty much adheres to this “dumb shit” thinking when selecting black female actors. Of course this does not apply to males, ie Eddie, Denzel, Cosby, Poitier, Snipes, Glover. Can you name a really famous black male actor today, or yesterday for that matter, that is light-skinned? Pretty hard to do if not impossible. Back in the day in the 60s and 70s at Howard U, there were parties where if you were not at least “paper sack brown”, you did not get in. Look back at the Harlem Renaissance, the 20s and 30s, all the famous folks of that era were pretty much light-skinned, uppitty Negroes. We can’t blame anyone but ourselves for this “dumb shit” thinking to still exist, especially for our younguns. To the white man, that one drop of blood still matters. Right Obama? PEACE.
http://myspace.com/thegameoncw Bird

Ok, I didn’t want to assume that Sandra was giving Ne-Yo a fair shake because she ALWAYS skews things toward the negative. After reading the first 12 comments I am assuming no one actually watched the video and neither could I watch and listen to an 8 minute long interview on my computer at work, so I plugged in my iPod ear phones. Yes Ne-Yo made the comment, but it was a jovial response to the black radio personality’s jovial comment that Ne-Yo and the white radio personality would make a good couple when in fact it was already estabilished at the beginning of the interview that she is in a very long term relationship. So long that her and her man barely have sex anymore. No doubt he was not serious as he is dark skinned and the only woman we know him to have been officially linked to is also filled with chocolatey goodness. Yall know Sandra is extra sensitive about the skin color issue. How yall gonna let her bamboozle yall without hearing it for yourself? For shame!
coaretained

all I got to say is I still got an attitude because my daughter is high yella. I just knew she would be choco ( I wanted at least one chocolate baby) and her dad and I is just a shade away from peanut butter.. I know I know.. but my mom is charcoal and his dad is blurple as kdub would say. It could have happened.
coaretained

linked to is also filled with chocolatey goodness
********************
I can’t take it… I just can’t. I’m going to do some work. lol
http://myspace.com/thegameoncw Bird

I see that after I posted my comment even more comments from people that didn’t listen to the interview have been posted and all negative toward Ne-Yo. See what these celebs have to put up with? But that being said, I am sure that Sandra was severely pissed off by Ne-Yo’s response as she really is ultra sensitive to the whole color thing and she is certainly entitled to her own feelings. But I kinda think the world would be a better place if we were not all as negative as Sandra and other bloggers who tear people down for our amusement.
http://myspace.com/thegameoncw Bird

coaretained Says:

all I got to say is I still got an attitude because my daughter is high yella. I just knew she would be choco ( I wanted at least one chocolate baby) and her dad and I is just a shade away from peanut butter..
****************************************

My two daughter’s are filled with chocolatey goodness and Lawd knows they are adorable beyond words, but I am caramel coated and I am now in negotiations with the Lord for a caramel coated son. My fiance is also carmel coated and we both have brown eyes and neither of my girls do. So yeah, I got my prayer request in for a carmel coated brown-eyed son who looks just like his gorgeous parents and gets his height from his dad.
http://myspace.com/bettathaniwasb4 2bme

oh ok thanks bird because in my mind i was like I guess he never saw those biracial damn near white kids with the nappy blonde hair..lol
coaretained

@ bird

I’ll pray for you.. but I noticed what you pray for, it always comes out opposite. Case in point- my guy has huuuger ears. My son I prayed and prayed and prayed he would not have his ears or his hairline. Needless to say… my son is teased all of the time about them satelites. I think they are cute on him.. but I didn’t want that. I prayed for the “choclatey goodness” baby girl with light brown eyes like maself with good hair and average ears. I had a white baby ( who is the lightest of all of them mind you) with pubic hair for hair, a navel hernia and regular brown eyes. So… I will pray for you another chocolate baby.. let’s not anger the universe.
intensemocha

GOES TO PROVE WHAT I ALREADY KNEW NICCAS STILL STUCK ON COLOR

AND TYPICALLY IF YOU ARE DARKER-MOST LIKELY YOU’VE ENDURED RUDE COMMENTS AND POSSIBLY MISTREATMENT BASED SOLEY ON YOUR COLOR

LIGHT-SKINNED PEOPLE DO GET PICKED ON AS WELL BUT AT LEAST THEY HAVE THE OPTION TO FLIP IT BY SAYING THEIR COMPLEXION/HUE IS PREFERRED MORESO THAN DARK-SKINNED AND THAT WOULD BE TRUE-BASED ON POPULAR CONSENSUS

NOT SURPRISED ONE BIT AND WHAT I’VE KNOWN ALL ALONG

I TRULY DON’T CARE IF SOMEONE LIKES ME OR MY COMPLEXION-JUST DON’T DISRESPECT AND KEEP IT MOVIN….
intensemocha

AND HOW ABOUT TRYING THIS ONE ON FOR SIZE-THANK GOD YOU HAVE A HEALTHY CHILD WITH NO DEFORMITIES, HANDICAPS, OR FATAL ILLNESS

INSTEAD OF WHICH COMPLEXION YOUR PRAYING OR HOPING FOR YOUR NEXT CHILD IS GOING TO BE….

CASE IN POINT-FOCUSING ON NONSENSE AS IF YOU COULD REALLY CONTROL WHAT COMPLEXION YOUR CHILD IS GOING TO BE-LOL
ReadTheBlog

Who said NEMO was intelligent to begin with? Being able to sing and pen hit songs does not proves one is smart, at all. Please!
ReadTheBlog

#25 – Did you say good hair? WTF is good hair? Please don’t tell me you have that slave mentality about hair….
SMALONE

NE-YO NEEDS TO STOP SMOKING CRACK BEFORE HE DO AN INTERVIEW!
browni007

you just cant make those kind of jokes around black folk.
http://smokiesays.blogspot.com/ Smokie

It was kind of inappropriate for NeYo to say that. And who’s to say he was joking? Yeah, it was just shooting the ish, but he was probably serious. I mean, who jokes like that? For what?

Who cares what shade your kid comes out.
http://myspace.com/thegameoncw Bird

intensemocha

Now you know I am going to love my babies regardless. But you can scold me all you want, I still want a baby boy who looks like me, which I don’t have yet. My smallest daughter has a gap like me and I LOVE that even though I know she will hate it just as I did when I was a kid. Right now she thinks it’s great to be like mommy in that way. But other then that neither of my daughters look anything like me. No need to be so literal all the time. Can’t people dream about frivolous things every now and again?
aduvalprincess

Bird, I just watched the interview (thank God my company don’t believe in blocking) and he said just that.

I really could care less what Go-Go said, he is super fruity and I only buy bootlegs of his cd’s. I grew up in a household where we were all different shades of black. I came out the darkest, and I love every bit of it. It’s his opinion to state that only light skin children are the cutest, even though I think that’s ignorant. Just like Young Nerd lost 2 of his 3 people fan base, the same can result to Go-Go.
intensemocha

Bird

I have a little girl who looks like me and I can understand wanting your child to resemble you that’s understandable-but when you start making a checklist of physical attributes you want your child to have-that’s a bit much….

from ears, to shade of skin, hairline, teeth etc. that’s scary & that’s just my opinion

it’s scary carrying a child and you pray that your child is healthy and honestly I can’t once recall saying I want my child to look like this, that, and the other-because I knew I had no control over that & I would love my child irregardless.
https://sandrarose.com Sandra Rose

Smokie Says:

It was kind of inappropriate for NeYo to say that. And who’s to say he was joking?

******************************************

Thank you Smokie. Ne-Yo clearly wasn’t joking. What he said was a Freudian slip because that is his mentality. Ne-Yo has a girlfriend (despite what he said in the video) and she is LSLH. Remember those pics that leaked of him getting head from a LSLH chick? As for the “chocolate goodness” chick, Bird is referring to the one Ne-Yo was with before he was famous.
http://www.myspace.com/necee518 yvonne79

SMH..I don’t know what to think about Neyo. Stupid and tasteless comment to make nonetheless. His rebuttal will be out REAL soon. We can count on that
http://findentertainmentnow.com miesha@FindEntertainmentNow.com

i think he was just talking, shooting the breezy, trying to be funny with the white girl AND it just came out. he means no harm but hey…he probably does feel that way. that’s his opinion and he can screw whoever he wants to screw so his kids will be yella. it wasn’t thoughtful or him to say that NO AND it may hurt some ppl BUT don’t take it personal. he’s ONLY neyo…he aint ya dad or your family or the president of the country. he’s rich and talented but his opinion will not influence the world and hopefully not our minds or other intellects into thinking that black is not beautiful. we KNOW black is the BOMB yo! “AND if ya don’t know now ya know..”

Watch soon he’ll come out with some apology about it anyway…
OOh i’m glad i’m not a celeb where every damn thing i say or mistake i make or feeling i have (right or wrong) ends up on the internet and gets picked apart.
http://findentertainmentnow.com miesha@FindEntertainmentNow.com

…dang now i’m dying to interview him partly regarding this comment.
coaretained

@intense

Of course that wasn’t the only thing I was hoping for and as Bird said.. it doesn’t have to be so literal. I grew up the lightest on one side of my family and the darkest on the other… I want some diversity in my house. When you picture you’re child in your head, you see what you want to see. I didn’t want to see a peanut head little girl with big ears and a hairline that started in the middle of her skull, so I envisioned a chocolate little girl with MANAGEABLE hair (not necessarily considered GOOD). I mean if that scares you that’s fine, but none of that was intended so literal. I wanted first and foremost healthy children, just because I didn’t post that doesn’t mean I wanted anything other than. And if they weren’t healthy they’d stil be loved just like all of their big ear receding hairline selves are right now.
intensemocha

@coaretained

YOUR COMMENTS WERE JUST THAT I DIDN’T SEE A “JUST JOKING” AFTER YOUR STATEMENTS SO YES I TOOK YOUR COMMENTS LITERALLY

AND TO EACH THEIR OWN….BUT FOR “ME” AND I DID SAY “ME” YOUR COMMENTS DIDN’T SCARE ME ONE BIT, AS A MATTER OF FACT I’VE HEARD WORST BUT SIMILAR COMMENTS FROM EXPECTING MOTHERS IN THE HAIR SALON- I WANT MY BABY TO HAVE HAZEL EYES, CURLY HAIR, TO BE LIGHT-SKINNED ETC.

YOUR COMMENTS ARE ACTUALLY QUITE “TYPICAL” JUST AS NEYO’S ARE-PEOPLE ONLY START BACK PEDDLING AFTER SOMEONE POINTS OUT HOW JUVENILE AND SHALLOW THESE TYPE OF COMMENTS SOUND

OF COURSE YOU WANT A HEALTHY BABY AND A LAUNDRY LIST OF OTHER ATTRIBUTES AS WELL, IF NOT YOU WOULDN’T HAVE BOTHERED TO LIST THEM-YOU OBVIOUSLY HAVE GIVEN IT SOME THOUGHT
http://myspace.com/thegameoncw Bird

aduvalprincess Says:

Bird, I just watched the interview (thank God my company don’t believe in blocking) and he said just that.

*************************************************

Yes he said it, but he was clearly joking. But this topic is too trivial for this much discussion.

Intensemocha,

I must say you live up to your name. You be going off on the regular over absolutely nothing. If you think me wanting a little boy who looks like me is sad, then so be it. I think you are a little wierd for caring about such things to the point where you are saddened.
Songbird27

So what if his baby comes out looking like his cone head dark monkey lookin self…what then? I never expected that from him…he’s buggin!
http://myspace.com/docjam1 Doc Jam

how irrelevant is this statement though? all the mufuckas is the clip was ugly, so what the fuck do they know about beauty?
http://myspace.com/iyonah iyonah

This video won’t play,and I am @ home. (Shrugs)
bloggergirlz

instead of focusing on skin color, his childs head/headline should be at the top of his list…lmao

on the flipside, i dont see what the big deal is w/ coar and birds statements…intense, you can talk all that hot sh!t, but we all know you aint keeping it real…i dont know why they even waste their time w/ ur wanna be self-righteous a$$…
lovezoe

The last time I checked, Ne-Yo was not light skinned. Self hatred is a dangerous thing. We as black people wonder why we are always called ignorant and the N word. Statements like that prove all stereotypes are true. Black is beautiful in all shades.
Sharonda

I didn’t comment on this whole thing so here’s what I think…

If you don’t mean it, don’t say it.Excuses is what children make.Jokes were made for the playground.It’s hard to sugarcoat ignorance.Was this the type of “NeYo” that was on Yung Berg’s case about dark butts?If so, I don’t think I’m willing to hear a excuse this time.Grown folks got excuses for everything.

“He’s joking” about his statement, does it mean it’s ok?Then again, people accept ignorance in whatever media.If it was another race/color it still be offensive.It’s an eye-opener how many black people discriminate more against their race than any other race.

NeYo just saved me gas $ though, so I’m grateful for that!
Daisy

While I don’t know if Neyo was joking or not when he made the comment, I will say some of us in our community are very much still stuck on color and hair which I think is beyond sad in this day and age.

@blogg I see you don’t have a problem calling anybody out..lol Let intensemocha be self righteous if that’s who she is. We can agree to disagree and keep it moving w/o name calling I hope. I am Ms We are the world and can we all get along I can’t help it. Drives my friends batty..lol

*sidebar* Doesn’t Ne Yo have a baby? I want to say I vauguely remember that story floating around??

Let’s go PANTHERS!!!!!!!!!
http://myspace.com/bettathaniwasb4 2bme

I’m done with all this..i prayed for some chocolate for my child and personally picked her black as tar daddy to get one..needless to say God saw right through me and got me a yellow baby that looks just like his azz..not only did i not get a melanin encouraged child..i got a broke ass no good babydaddy as well..moral of the story..be careful of selfish wishes and and black ass potential babydaddies who live in their mama’s basement until they are 23..and every woman after that…
http://pleasurekisses.com Mika79

And goodnight!
lovezoe

He will be put on my Yung Berg list. Everytime I hear his music I turn the station. I will not give my money to ANY artist that is a self-loather of his own people. Boy Bye!
http://myspace.com/iyonah iyonah

@ 2 beme -” black ass potential babydaddies who live in their mama’s basement until they are 23..and every woman after that…”

(their Grandma’s basement)

Also beware of the aspiring producer, singer and former military man with 2 other children already and 1 on the way. Please note that this ish applies even if he is your high school sweetheart and 1st — ok guess that was my rant. You channeled something when you mentioned the basement. I really cna’t stand HIS *SS!
missamerica

It was in poor taste…but it was a joke! There are bigger things going on in this world than a Ne-Yo faux pas, he’s not a world leader, just a R&B singer/songwriter. Who cares what he thinks??? Who never told a “complexion” joke??? I’m not condoning it, but its out there.

Video: Ne-Yo – “All the prettiest kids is light skinned… normally” UPDATED

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