Jesy Nelson is said to be ‘devastated’ after a styling mishap saw her at the centre of fresh accusations that she is disrespecting the black community.
The 30-year-old former Little Mix star ignited a race storm earlier this year with the release of her debut solo single Boyz – with an accompanying music video dripping in damaging stereotypes about black people and the star herself accused of ‘blackfishing’ as she posed with her hair in braids and a deep tan.
Just as the dust has settled on the unfortunate moment, accusations have erupted again as she attended Capital’s Jingle Bell Ball with Barclaycard at London’s O2 Arena over the weekend wearing an orange coat on the red carpet adorned with the words: "Market Black" across her chest.
But Jesy had her hair pulled back off one shoulder and draped over the other – blocking out the word ‘Market’ and giving the illusion the coat simply had a logo stating “black” on it.
Red carpet images soon went viral for all the wrong reasons – not least because Jesy’s team themselves shared one of the photos on her own Instagram feed before swiftly deleting it after a backlash was launched.
One furious music fan tweeted: “Wearing this jacket and covering part of the wording so it just says 'Black' proves that at this point Jesy Nelson and her entire team are just trolling and mocking black women now. And it reeks of ignorance, arrogance, desperation and misogynoir.”
Now The Sun claims Jesy is “devastated” about the fresh backlash – and they report she was told of the furore “just minutes before she went on stage.”
Meanwhile a source told the publication: “She had no idea, when her hair was pulled over one shoulder on the red carpet, that it was covering the start of the logo.
“Jesy was so upset when she was told what had happened and was shown the photographs. She was totally focused on her performance and this put a huge dark cloud over everything.”
It is also reported that Jesy is being advised to fire her stylist following the backlash.
In October, Jesy was forced to defend herself when fans accused her of cultural appropriation through her Boyz music video.
She said in an interview with Vulture at the time: “The whole time I was in Little Mix I never got any of that. And then I came out of [the band] and people all of a sudden were saying it.
“I wasn’t on social media around that time, so I let my team [deal with it], because that was when I’d just left.
“But I mean, like, I love Black culture. I love Black music. That’s all I know; it’s what I grew up on.”
She added: “I’m very aware that I’m a white British woman; I’ve never said that I wasn’t.”
The backlash also engulfed Jesy’s former band – as there were accusations ex-bandmate Leigh-Anne Pinnock had asked a successful social media influencer to expose Jesy for blackfishing.
