Tyrese has stirred up quite the conversation on social media following his comments on how he wishes he was “born Latino.”
The actor took to Instagram on Thursday (February 1) to share a heartwarming video of a Latino family expressing their love and gratitude by gifting their father a new vehicle.
The Tyrese Controversy
The text on the video reads, “Kids buy dad his dream truck to thank him for all the sacrifices he’s made, and his reaction is beautiful.”
And while the clip was, indeed, touching, it was Tyrese’s captions that appeared to have left a lot of people enraged, particularly his own community.
“Sometimes I wish I was born Latino…” the ‘How You Gonna Act Like That’ singer said.
“I mean the Latin community is grounded in family, loyal, entrepreneurs, businessman, and women literally represent the dreams, the grind the hustle doing whatever it takes to stick together against all odds.”
He also shared lengthy comments about the perceived shortcomings of his own Black community.
The 45-year-old painted a picture of the Latin community as grounded in family values and loyalty.
This was followed by his views about the Black community, which he felt lacked those qualities.
He wrote, “If us is black culture was more grounded in these integral magical nuances of us we would be dominant.”
Tyrese’s Perception of Other Communities
His caption then focused on the Jewish and Muslim communities, whom Tyrese also praised for their strong family values.
He admired the Jewish culture’s practice of eating dinner together every Friday and the Muslim community’s emphasis on honoring fathers.
“I’ve learned a lot from the Jewish community sticking together and eating dinner every Friday together,” he continued.
“I’ve learned a lot about the Muslim community throughout all my travels in the Middle East. They have a father structure where they honor their fathers the Middle East the thinking in the mentality is that they would much rather have a son over a daughter because they know that there is nothing like the leadership of a FATHER and a man being the head of the household….”
However, many saw his comments about other cultures as a blatant critique of what he felt the Black community was lacking.
The ‘F9’ star claimed that the Black culture was fragmented, insecure, and plagued by internal competition.
He also lamented the high incarceration rates among Black men, even though this assertion is statistically inaccurate.
The Impact of Tyrese’s Remarks: Social Media Reacts
The aftermath of Tyrese’s viral post was predictably chaotic, to say the least.
The backlash in the comment section of his post was swift and severe, with many sounding off their disappointment and anger at his comments.
The Instagram user @sistavoyage commented:
“Dude, didn’t you create TWO broken homes, talking about you wish you were Latino because they value family. Do YOU value family?”
Another user by the name @chaletjbatiste, echoed similar thoughts as she wrote:
“There are many African American families who stick together love each other and do things like this in the post. And there are Africans who don’t have great families. No race or culture is better than another. Shame on yall!”
A third person named @iyobodiresonia seemed furious with her response, writing:
“If you want to Latino, you’re free to go, you seem to only like be black when you’re crying over some women or when your career isn’t going to plan…i had a lot of respect for you, went out of my way to watch every movie you were in, sing your songs loud enough for you to hear them..Truly disappointed is an understatement.”
Despite the negative feedback, Tyrese has yet to issue an apology or clarification for his remarks.
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