Posted on 12/08/2015 7:01:03 AM PST by SeekAndFind
A petition addressed to Adele, President Obama, and Billboard on Change.org demands that the singer admit that she has "little talent" and is succeeding mainly because of her white privilege.
"Adele sold over 3.38 million copies of her album '25' and the media is praising her as if Adele's success has everything to do with talent," reads the petition, written by Rhianna Jones.
"Rather, it's her white privilege that has put her on top," it declares.
The petitioners also "demand that Adele donates her money to African-American causes such as #Blacklivesmatter."
It's not clear why exactly the petition is also addressed to President Obama -- perhaps Ms. Jones is outraged that the leader of the free world hasn't pushed the less important issues like ISIS aside to deal with the more serious ones like a singer's being white and successful at the same time. (I mean, would an executive order requiring Adele to admit she is only successful because she is white and give away her money to people who are not white in order to stay in the country really be too much to ask?)
Honestly, Adele is an interesting target for this kind of criticism. First of all, despite the fact that some might think this would be impossible for a white person, Adele actually had a pretty tough upbringing: Her father was an admitted drunk who walked out on the family when she was just three years old. Second -- white or not -- hardly anyone thinks of Adele as having the typical look of a successful female performer. Whether someone is calling her fat or asking her how she manages to handle weighing more than others in her industry, any discussion of her image concerns how different she looks and how tough it must be to look that way.
Although Jones's petition had just 31 supporters at the time of publication, its very existence is ridiculous enough -- and for so many reasons. After all, even if Adele did have a privileged upbringing and was a size 0 with D-cups, saying that she has just "a little talent" is objectively wrong. "A little talent" is the kind of phrase you use to describe someone who had the best voice in the high-school choir before going on to realize she needed to get a real job. Fan or not, anyone with ears and the ability to know what words mean would have to admit that Adele falls into a different category.
-- Katherine Timpf is a reporter for National Review Online.
Poor woman is right.
Good thing she has finally found the ‘real’ reason she is a loser.
One of the first times I heard her album was at the home of black friends. *smh*
Doesn’t she compete with white people for this fame?
Last I looked there are a whole lot of white people and they all have “white privilege”.
Is this satire?
Martin Luther King, Jr.
She should just set fire to the rain ... meet them all at Skyfall.
I always thought she was overrated. She yells, moans, and makes other bedroom noises rather than singing. Popular singers have been moaning for years. I never thought it was because she is white. Pop music loves half baked talent. They sign people who sound like they are being intimate when they “sing”.
She considers rising at 9 early, and she arrives at work at 11?
This is a joke?...right?... Bueller?....Bueller?...
My Husband had heard her name and thought she was just the flavor of the day, singer of crap music like so many are these days, until I told him that she wrote and sung the theme from “Skyfall”.
Now he knows who she is. Total talent.
Until I saw her pic just now, I had no idea what race she was. I still don’t care.
I think they define her having to look in the mirror as “systemic white privilege”.
Yeah fans of the autotune brigade get defensive when a real singer gets attention.
Given her sense of "style" in #19, I'd say she was given her degree in IVS, not because she earned it, but because of AA - they couldn't fail her, so they "degree'd" her to get rid of her.
Color me not impressed with dragging clothes on the ground, and not bothering to remove jewelry for cleaning now and then.
Talk about a walking health hazard. I'm sure Rose [Bakery] is just thrilled when she strolls through.
envy + race card + obsession with empty concept of white priviledge = resentment against achievement
Stoopet.
I have an amazing 4 octave voice and sing a variety of styles and songs.
Did I mention I’m white?
How do I get to the to the topIof the pile so I can kick Shiite down all over my non white competitors?
Pretty
The petitioners also “demand that Adele donates her money to African-American causes such as #Blacklivesmatter.”
I Demand that Milli Vanilli Pay Reperomations!!! to ALL of Us who ever heard them not sing....
#whiteearsmatter
I guess I would hit that...
I watched the show she did with Graham Norton on the BBC where she talked about this. (Exeter sent me a new interociter. No IP block could stand up to it.)She's impressive in her lack of pomposity.
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