STREAM EXCLUSIVE ORIGINALS

Patti LaBelle Called Ariana Grande A 'White Black Girl,' And Twitter Is Ready For War

"What y’all gonna do? Cancel Patti LaBelle?"

This past Thursday (Dec. 6), Billboard hosted their annual Women In Music Awards. Artists like Anderson.Paak, Alicia Keys, Patti LaBelle presented awards to the honorees including the Trailblazer Janelle Monae, SZA, the Rule Breaker and Ariana Grande, the 2018 Woman of the Year. The legendary Godmother of Soul presented the “thank u, next” popstress with her coveted honor.

Patti began her speech by saying, “I’m here for my baby girl. God, I love her so much.” The “Lady Marmalade” soul singer continued to gush over Ariana. “To Billboard’s Woman of the Year, a young woman who has it all. She’s soulful, strong and she’s just sensational. She’s all that and a bag of chips. Although, I have shoes older than her and they may be taller than her, but she’s a giant talent who sings from the heart.” Despite being “nervous,” Ms. LaBelle continued to speak on the Dangerous Woman singer’s plethora of accomplishments. “Ariana, congratulations my baby. This is your year.” However, one snippet seemed to get clipped from the final edits posted on Billboard’s YouTube.

  • Patti handed Ari her award and said, “sing like that little white black girl that you are…”

    The “Honeymoon Avenue” singer literally fell out, and it seems that Patti’s son allegedly told her to opt out of saying that, and Ariana agreed, but Patti didn’t care.

  • Black Twitter went to war, and ironically enough, they were just debating about Ari's use of blackface...

  • After the pop singer released her highly anticipated "thank u, next" visual, many argued that she used blackface and has been accused of using a "blaccent." One writer even received death threats for "calling her out," but Ariana has yet to address the accusation.

    So, Patti's comments definitely aren't helping the argument...

  • Check out both Patti Labelle and Ariana Grande's speeches in full

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