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Leigh-Anne: Race, Pop & Power: Leigh-Anne Pinnock Confronts Fiancé Over 'Horrible' Tweets About Black Women

Joanna Freedman

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Leigh-Anne: Race, Pop & Power: Leigh-Anne Pinnock Confronts Fiancé Over 'Horrible' Tweets About Black Women

Featured Image Credit: PA

Little Mix star Leigh-Anne Pinnock has been praised by fans for confronting her fiancé Andre Gray about colourist tweets he had previously written.

During her documentary, Leigh-Anne: Race, Pop & Power, which aired on the BBC yesterday, Leigh-Anne looked back on the fact that her partner Andre - a footballer for Watford FC - had shared offensive tweets about dark-skinned women in the past.

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Reflecting on tweets from 2012, which suggested that Black women wearing red lipstick looked like 'burnt toast with jam on it,' Leigh-Anne resolved to sit Andre down and discuss the hurt he had caused.

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"I will never know what it feels like to be a dark-skinned woman but seeing those tweets really made me feel a bit sick," she said.

Leigh-Anne's documentary explores colourism (Credit: BBC/Dragonfly/Richard Ansett)
Leigh-Anne's documentary explores colourism (Credit: BBC/Dragonfly/Richard Ansett)

Addressing Andre directly, she added: "I was really upset because I was just like, 'Who is this person? This is horrible'.

"That wasn't the person I knew. When they surfaced, my heart sank. Because I was like, 'That is not the person I met. It sounds like a child, like a silly child'."

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Poignantly, in scenes filmed before Leigh-Anne had gone public with her pregnancy, she then tells her fiancé; "We could have a child and it could come out darker than us."

As a result of the tweets, Andre was charged by the Football Association back in 2016 and issued a £25,000 fine. He was also banned from four matches with his previous team, Burnley. He issued an apology at the time.

Andre and Leigh-Anne are exepecting their first child together (Credit: Instagram0
Andre and Leigh-Anne are exepecting their first child together (Credit: Instagram0

Discussing the tweets with Leigh-Anne, Andre said: "You become a product of your environment.

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"Whatever you were around every day and you're not educated on it or exposed to why it's wrong, it kind of sticks.

"There's no excuse at all. When it all came out, obviously I was embarrassed, ashamed and disappointed.

"I've made that mistake and I've learnt and I've educated myself and grew up to understand how offensive and wrong it was".

Fans were quick to praise the couple's open and frank conversation in the doc.

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Andre has previously apologised for the vile tweets (Credit: Twitter/ Andre Grey)
Andre has previously apologised for the vile tweets (Credit: Twitter/ Andre Grey)

"Leigh-Anne holding Andre accountable for them tweets...here for it," wrote one person after watching their chat.

While another penned: "I'm glad she addressed not just racism but colourism as well and actually wanted to learn from others and become educated about matters.

"Also glad she spoke to Andre upfront about racist tweets and as opposed to forgetting it being 8 yrs ago."

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"I'm so glad Leigh-Anne pulled up Andre's past tweets it's so important to address all issues no matter how close people are to you," said a third.

You can watch Leigh-Anne: Race, Pop & Power on BBC iPlayer now.

Topics: Little Mix, Celebrity News, TV News, TV & Film, Leigh-Anne Pinnock

Joanna Freedman
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