Normani Kordei of Fifth Harmony quit Twitter back in August after she was taunted with racial slurs. This was back when Leslie Jones was shining a light on some of the horrid things that trolls were posing about her on Twitter. Following the racism that Leslie faced, Twitter started cracking down on hate speech and promised that they would no longer tolerate racism or extremism. They’ve improved somewhat by banning accounts and putting others on notice. Kordei did an interview with US Magazine which was in their print edition (it was also online but I’m just seeing it now). She talked about the horror she felt at being a target online, and how she’s since moved on from that. Kordei is working with a nonprofit organization called the Cybersmile Foundation, which aims to support victims, raise awareness and spread niceness online. This is the first I’m hearing of it and I really like that idea.
Us Weekly: The bullying started when Fifth Harmony formed on The X Factor in 2012. What did people say?
NK: Everybody in the group gets online hate, but mine is different. Racism really does exist and I’m the only African American girl of the group. There are people creating Photoshopped pictures of me getting beat as if I were a slave back in the day.Us: That’s horrible. How did you deal?
NK: I tried to ignore it at first. My way of dealing with it was to not deal with it, if that makes sense. I thought the best thing was just not to look at the comments. Even if there’s one comment, it’s superhurtful and it’s the one that sticks with you.Us: What happened when you announced you were quitting?
NK: I felt like a weight had been lifted. And I got so much love. Keke Palmer, Zendaya, a bunch of my friends — they were all texting me, making sure that I was OK and giving me advice. It really did open my eyes to see that people do genuinely care about me. I don’t know how many times I heard, “Normani, I’m here to support you.” They came to our shows and made signs. The whole stadium was filled with posters saying, “Normani, we love you!” Once Twitter was gone, I felt a lot more present, not always looking to see what people were saying about me. It was a relief.Us: So, why come back to Twitter?
NK: To turn the situation around and make it positive. I feel like it’s almost my purpose to speak up about my experience so it could help somebody else. The hate is not going to stop, but I needed to make a point that you can’t run away from a bully. You can’t allow someone’s hate to dictate your life. I want to be the voice for those people who are going through the same thing, like little African American boys and girls getting bullied at school. It wasn’t just, I’m going to get back in to tweet “I had a burger today.”Us: What’s your goal?
NK: We created a hashtag, #ImACybersmiler, and you can make videos and share your stories to show people that you’re not alone, and we can support one another. Knowing that you’re not alone really does make all the difference in the world. I never, ever want to go back to that other place again where I worry about those ugly comments and people who hate. I’m just going to be me.
I wish more celebrities would quit Twitter in favor of other social networking platforms that don’t tolerate abuse. Facebook offers a lot more control for users over comments and blocking, but it has its own issues of course. I don’t know much about Instagram but from what I understand it’s better than Twitter and they have a better community overall. Personally I quit my personal Facebook account several days ago due to stress over the election. I could completely relate to what she said about how it’s a relief not to have to check it or think about it at all, and no one was saying anything mean to me. It’s hard to imagine what it must be like to read that type of hate hurled at you. Good for Kordei for getting involved with a worthy cause and also for having the courage to speak out about what she went through. That can’t be easy to reveal.
I too quit Facebook a few months ago. Best decision for mental health. I wasn’t criticized either but it gets overwhelming.
When she mentions the support that she received, she named Keke Palmer and Zendaya. No mention of the other 5H girls? Why didn’t any of the other girls tweet anything against the Normani hate anyway? What is going on in that group, like do they not look out for each other?
some of the other girls did tweet in support but right now that group is going through a lot of tension. It’s mainly Camilla vs the others. Hence why Camilla fans were attacking Mani on twitter and Camilla was forced to tweet about it. It’s very divided and if they hadn’t just signed a new contract who knows if they would be together now after last years issues
wait, a new contract? okay wow, so the infighting is real
i was really hoping they’d be different than the other girl groups
Some of the same people just attacked Normani’s grandmother, who’s on twitter, today, over a biblical post she made. They took it as shade towards Camila because she just dropped another collab with some rapper I never heard of. Now, they keep posting things about the song in her mentions. It’s crazy.
Plus there was a link in another Fifth Harmony post about Camila being involved in some racism toward Normani herself.
I’m glad that she got support from Zendaya and Keke Palmer, but it’s sad that this is something that even has to be dealt with.
hate, just like any other negative emotion, comes back to bite you.
so if people wanna hate someone based on their skin, gender, sexual orientation, they are just fulfilling their lives negativity.
that “haters gonna hate” thing is silly, but it is simple truth. do not pay attention to those who hate you with no reason.
I’m not on Facebook a lot anymore due to the election and the disturbing reactions people had to the police shootings. I had to end up removing people off there too because of comments. It was affecting me emotionally and mentally. People don’t seem to think when they post things. I used to listen to NPR but I’ve had to turn that off too in favor of an all classical music station I found on my Iheartradio app.
It makes me so sad that people being abused online is some sort of commonplace thing. Maybe one good thing to come out of this is the cybersmile organization. And an awareness that we as a species still have a great deal of work to do.
I saw some the things being tweeted at her and it was horrid. Not just slaves being whipped but putting her face on lynched corpses. Sick and twisted. I REALLY hope those people don’t crawl out again. I know it’s just Twitter – but many celebs & musicians need it for their business, I’m glad she’s returning with support.
God Bless this Girl #ProtectNormaniAtAllCosts (though twitter and assorted Platforms wont trip over themselves rushing to give her a comment blocker or nothing )
Oh, CB. Why did you quit? Things are looking good. And I believe that Hillary Clinton is on her way to being President of the United States. I know one of my friends quit because she couldn’t handle her family posting Pro-Trump memes and things. Was it something that like that?
She’s beautiful.
What is the deal that Twitter isn’t stepping up the way other platforms do? While there’s racism across the spectrum, Twitter seems to be the most unconcerned- which just encourages the asshats to focus their effort there since they know they’ll get a pass?