An interview in which actor Taye Diggs talks about his resentment toward Black women is causing a stir on social media.
Diggs, who starred in the TV show “Private Practice” and “The Best Man” films and currently has a recurring role in “Empire,” was married to actress Idina Menzel, who is white, for 11 years. Shortly after their split, in 2014, actress and model Amanza Smith and Diggs began a relationship. Smith, who identifies herself as biracial, is a mother of two who waspreviously marriedto former NFL player Ralph Brown.
In about an hour-long conversation on The Red Pill Podcast with host Van Lathan, Diggs reflected on his experience in Hollywood beginning in the late 1990s and his personal life.
“When [the film] ‘Stella [Got Her Groove Back]’ first hit, you were the big, hot thing at that point,” Lathan said. “What was that feeling like for you What was it like to be a Michael B. Jordan”
Diggs responded, “It’s different now because way more white people know who Michael B. Jordan is, than who knew who Taye Diggs was.”
“So you didn’t get the crossover appeal,” Lathan asked.
“No, they gave that to Will Smith at the time,” Diggs said.
About midway into the podcast, Lathan and Diggs begin their banter regarding Black women.
“To this day, I still get, ‘I thought you only like white girls'” Diggs said. “It’s been a life lesson. It doesn’t matter how many times I explain myself, there’s always going to be someone talking.”
Lathan said that Black male celebrities now dating or married to white women aren’t receiving backlash.
“You’ve got Kanye West, you’ve got Donald Glover,” Lathan said. “It’s almost like you took a bullet for those guys Because they’re not getting any of that.”
Diggs said that there are still Black male celebrities being ridiculed by Black women for dating white women, but it’s not upsetting them.
“It’s like family,” Diggs said, referring to Black women. “You love them, more than anything, but you’ve also got to deal with all the bull.”
Lathan asked, “Ever any resentment towards Black women because of some of those attitudes”
“Yeah, deep down inside,” Diggs responded. “I don’t wanna say I suppress it, but I just watch it when it happens to you, personally, even though you understand the logic, there’s trauma there.”
He continued, “I don’t know if I can mess with a white girl now. I don’t like that, I feel that like goes against who I am as a person.”
He added, “I feel like I’ve had [to] deal with that so long it’s changed what I think I like, what I’m attracted to It’s not where my eyes gravitate to naturally and a lot of people would say, ‘Oh I should feel relieved.’ It might be racist and I don’t wanna be racist. I’m not racist.
“I wasn’t raised to look at someone’s race and be attracted to one race more than another. But I think any psychiatrist or therapist would probably say, it’s probably textbook.”
Many Black women are responding to Diggs’ claims on social media, basically saying that no one cares who he dates:
No one had a problem with Taye Diggs dating white women. He tried to fetishize his biracial son and deny his blackness. He wanted black women to be mad and tried flaunting his marriage with a white woman for years, and it never worked.
That’s why Idina Menzel left him.
Cara Meeks Bellezza (@Mariah_Cara) February 28, 2018
@TayeDiggs why can’t you just be content in your misery and self loathing. You don’t like black womenswear but always want to bring us down with you. BE FREE…LEAVE US ALONE
Finessa Williams (@KylaJLacey) February 26, 2018
every 6 years or so taye diggs be talking out the side of his neck about black women. im not sure why he does it. has he ever discussed who hurt him
chick norris (@darfucius) February 28, 2018
#TayeDiggs on his resentment toward black women and why he won’t date them.
Black women everywhere: pic.twitter.com/L7Q3cESTFz
Throw Up & Theology (@RevLaurelJ) February 28, 2018
Diggs’ first children’s book, “Chocolate Me,” was based on his experiences growing up in a predominately white neighborhood. He and Menzel’s son, Walker, inspired his second book, “Mixed Me.”
In 2015, in an interview about the book, Diggs also made waves when he said that it should be emphasized that former President Barack Obama is “mixed” rather than only referring to him as a Black man.
“As African Americans, we were so quick to say okay he’s Black he’s Black, and then there were the white people who were afraid to say he was biracial because who knows,” he said.
“Everybody refers to him as the first Black president, I’m not saying it’s wrong, I’m just saying that it’s interesting. It would be great if it didn’t matter and that people could call him mixed. We’re still choosing to make that decision, and that’s when I think you get into some dangerous waters.”
