Tiffany Haddish responds amid backlash to her Zimbabwe grocery store video

[hewontgo]

Tiffany Haddish is defending herself amid backlash to her video of a Zimbabwe grocery store: 'I thought I would share cause I know people in the USA that believe Africans don’t have anything.' https://t.co/V7rRrmMHkV
- Entertainment Weekly (@EW) July 29, 2024
Tiffany Haddish is standing her ground amid criticism for her Zimbabwe grocery story video

Comments

[sillyskinny]

I always interpreted her video this way tbh.

It never came across as if she was surprised to find a grocery store there. More like she was showing off / mocking folks who think Africa is nothing but clay huts and wilderness.

I wonder how many people actually watched the video vs just ran with the headline...

[automaticpeople]

I haven’t watched the video, but I know a lot of people think Africa is just a country and a very poor one at that. They don’t realise how big it is and how different it is from one region to the next.

[purrple_267]

That's the impression I got, she mentioned demystifying once, maybe if she expanded more on that in the video, it'd be received differently, but to me she didn't look shocked that a supermarket exists either way.

[passionless_me]

It came off that way for me too, but at what point is the mocking of that stereotype reinforcing it? That stereotype is incredibly dated, I haven't heard people say something like that sincerely since the 90's/early aughts. And making a "joke" of the stereotype is exactly the racist/xenophobic line that's been in use since then.

Elements of that xenophobia still exist, like thinking Africa doesn't have skyscrapers or all African vacations are safaris, but "no grocery stores" is absurd. Turning it into a joke doesn't make it less racist!

It felt like SUCH a boomer thing to say, by a relative outsider who was not part of that society/culture. (She is Eritrean but frequently posts ignorantly about Eritrea as well, and this was in Zimbabwe. Plus she's always saying terrible shit about everything, this is not a sarcastic remark she could reasonably get away with!)

[howlin_wolf_66]

What she says about being told that there is only one reality in Africa, and that the media is 'lying' was stupid on HER part, though; it wasn't just the misconception of other people.