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Leigh-Anne Pinnock got into a tense debate with her boyfriend Andre Gray over his past "colourist" remarks during Thursday's BBC documentary Race, Pop and Power.
The Little Mix singer worked with the channel to research and investigate racism for a new documentary that looked back on her own experiences being in the band for the last 10 years.
As the star held discussions with her bandmate Jade Thirlwall and fellow songstresses such as Alexandra Burke, one moment stood out as particularly poignant.
Having read tweets from her boyfriend and professional footballer Andre Gray eight years ago, where he made a series of "colourist" remarks against darker-skinned black women, Leigh-Anne wanted to have a frank chat with him about his views.
The singer, who recently revealed she is pregnant with Andre's baby and had her blossoming bump on display at the BRIT Awards this week, spoke about their future.
Trying to get through to her boyfriend about why his comments almost a decade ago had been wrong, she also feared he would feel the same if they had their own child.
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"Because it’s like, how would you feel if someone said that about your cousin or your aunty?" Leigh-Anne asked.
"We could have a child and it comes out darker than us – you just don’t know."
Andre nodded gravely, and it was clear his partner's words had really sunk in in the powerful moment.
Having first confronted him about how she'd felt to read the tweets, where Andre had joked about traits in darker-skinned women, Leigh-Anne said her "heart sank".
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"When they surfaced, my heart sank, because I was just like that is not the person that I met," the 29-year-old told him. "It sounds like a child, a silly child."
Trying to explain his past behaviour, the sportsman shared: "That is what happens when you’re kids, you do become a product of your environment.
"So whatever you’re around every day, and you’re not educated on it or exposed to why it’s wrong or whatever, then it kind of sticks."
"But still though, to have those views at the time…" Leigh-Anne prompted.
"No of course, no, there’s no excuse at all," Andre said firmly. "When it all came out and stuff, obviously I was embarrassed, ashamed, disappointed. At the same time I had to be a man about it.
"I’ve made that mistake, and I’ve learnt and I’ve educated myself, and I’ve grown up to understand how offensive and how wrong it was. What I did."
Andre went on to say that he didn't feel like he understood racism when he was young, and insisted there was never any "malice" in his words.
"Being from Jamaican heritage it’s a tough one, maybe a bit of self-hate?
"In Jamaica, people don’t wanna be dark-skinned in Jamaica a lot of the time, there’s a lot of bleaching going on. And it’s cool to be lighter," the athlete added sadly.
Leigh-Anne filmed her documentary over the course of 2020.
Fans were so proud of the star for the emotional programme, and took to Twitter to praise her.
"This has been bl***y good. So eye-opening and highly educational," one person wrote.
Another shared: "Watching Leigh-Anne Pinnock Race, Pop and Power and this documentary is so powerful and important."
- BBC
- Leigh-Anne Pinnock
- Little Mix
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