Pop Star Olivia Rodrigo Slammed for Saying She Grew Up Thinking Only White Girls Could Be Pop Stars

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 14: Pop music star and Disney actress Olivia Rodrigo makes a brief s
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Alana Mastrangelo

Former Disney star and Joe Biden White House shill turned pop star Olivia Rodrigo was slammed for saying she grew up thinking only white girls could be pop stars. Critics hammered Rodrigo, reminding her of the scores of non-white pop icons like Whitney Huston, Janet Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, and Beyoncé, among many others who’ve left massive marks on the music landscape.

In an interview with V Magazine, Saturday Night Live‘s Bowen Yang asked Rodrigo — who has one parent of Filipino descent — if she ever takes into account her Filipino background as a pop star, to which the singer responded by saying it is “incredible to think about,” because she has always viewed “pop star” to be synonymous with “white girl.”

“I sometimes get DMs from little girls being like, ‘I’ve never seen someone who looked like me in your position.’ And I’m literally going to cry,” Rodrigo said, before disclosing that she had believed pop stars were always “white.”

“Like just thinking about it. I feel like I grew up never seeing that. Also it was always like, ‘Pop star,’ that’s a white girl,” she said.

Pop music star and Disney actress Olivia Rodrigo makes a brief statement to reporters at the beginning of the daily news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on July 14, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The singer was quickly slammed for what appeared to be her limited knowledge of the world of pop music, given that so many non-white pop icons exist today, and have existed over the years.

“This is so annoying, what about big legends in like Whitney, Mariah, JLo, Shakira, Rihanna, Beyonce, pop groups like TLC,” one Twitter user wrote.

“She’s 18. She never heard of Whitney? Mariah? Beyoncé?” another Twitter user asked.

“Clearly this girls been raised in some sort of alternate universe,” another tweeted.

“It’s like Selena died for nothing,” another commented, referring to Mexican-American singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, who was fatally shot in 1995 at the age of 23.

Another Twitter user simply listed a slew of non-white pop stars, and included names like Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, and Billie Holiday — a nod to those who have become icons throughout the past.

Rodrigo’s comments about pop stars being white have not been the only topic for which the singer was recently lambasted.

In June, Rodrigo was accused of “stealing” Courtney Love’s album cover when some critics highlighted similarities between her 1994 “Hole” album art and the “Sour Prom” promo image recently used by Rodrigo — an allegation the young singer has denied.

Joe Biden trotted out the pop singer, who visited the White House to promote coronavirus vaccines to young people. The 18-year-old singer walked into the West Wing of the White House, addressed reporters, met with Biden and U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci.

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.

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