Little Mix star Leigh-Anne Pinnock ‘doesn’t care’ if she loses fans for talking about racism

Singer drew praise for revealing she often felt like ‘the least favoured’ member of the band because of her race

Little Mix star Leigh-Anne Pinnock has said that she will continue speaking out about racism, and doesn’t care if she loses fans in the process.

Pinnock drew praise after revealing that she has often felt like “the least favoured” member of Little Mix because of her race, with the death of George Floyd inspiring her to speak openly about her experiences.

During an appearance on This Morning, Pinnock said that she will continue to talk about race.

“This is something you can’t ignore,” she explained. “I don’t care how much I preach about this, I don’t care how much I say, because this is my reality and so many other people’s reality and what’s the point in even going on if we can’t get a change?

“I’m not going to just sit here and not say anything. I don’t care if I lose fans and I already know that some people who have posted have lost a lot of fans and I just think it’s disgusting, but it just proves what we’re saying.”

Pinnock said that she first spoke openly about her experiences with racism in 2019, but “didn’t feel like enough people cared”. She said that she was so “overwhelmed” by Floyd’s death that she felt she should reiterate them.

“Now I just feel like people are starting to understand and educate themselves and see that this problem is massive and we need to talk about it and there needs to be a change because we just can’t go on like this anymore,” she explained. “Four hundred years of oppression, it just can’t go on anymore.”

She continued: “It’s actually been such a weight lifted for me. I was hearing from people who have been in the same sort of experiences that I have, so being the black girl in their band in the pop industry, saying how they felt exactly the same way as me and I’ve never ever had conversations with people who have had similar experiences as me.”

Stars including Normani, formerly of Fifth Harmony, and Shaznay Lewis, of All Saints, tweeted their support for Pinnock’s statements.

In response to Pinnock, her Little Mix bandmate Jade Thirlwall condemned media outlets for confusing the pair in images.

“This s*** happens ALL THE TIME,” Thirlwall wrote. Highlighting an article about Pinnock that used an image of Thirlwall to illustrate it, she added: “You might want to make sure you’re using an image of the correct mixed race member of the group.”