African singer Dencia has been criticized for a while following the release of her controversial skin-care line called Whitenicious, which according to her, is only to “lighten dark spots on the face”, but the name of the product seems to imply much more than that, with the advertising campaign behind the product showing Dencia’s entire skin tone to appear a lot lighter. However the Nigerian and Cameroonian singer insists the product is only intended to be a dark spot remover.
The singer recently sat down with Channel 4, where we see her trying to defend the name of the product by saying, “White means pure, not necessarily skin, but in general“. When the interviewer made the point about Lupita Nyong’o ESSENCE Awards speech, Dencia responded with, “I don’t accept that. I don’t care about her story. I don’t know her. I’m an adult and if I lighten my skin then that’s my choice, the same as bleaching my hair“.
Many critics have branded her product as an “abomination” saying it teaches young girls of colour to be ashamed of their skin. Phinniah Ikeji, from Black Role Models UK, who was also took part in the Channel 4 interview told Dencia, “This is about the young girls. They see you, they love your music, they love you as a person and they have seen that you were darker before and now you’re much lighter, what’s the message going to be to them? They’re going to think, OK I want to be like her as well and then that affects their self-esteem“.
Following the interviewing airing on Channel 4 and online, viewers have taken to Youtube to voice their anger and chagrin at Dencia’s defence of her Whitenicious product with one viewer SMPRawRap stating, “this h*e needs to stop acting American first of all, 2nd of all she should stop trying to look white”. Another viewer Aja Messay said, “how tragic… I rather feel sorry for her. I dont think we can hate her anymore than she hate herself”, before adding “this is what I call the anatomy of a self loathing Afrikan wowan“, while another viewer Le Tenia maintained that “this woman is just a horrible fake mess. She said it herself she “doesn’t care” about anyone else or their opinions. She just wants to sell her product. Don’t give her screentime to promote this poison“.
You can watch Dencia’s Channel 4 interview below.
#Peace.Love.Dencia
