Rapper Bhad Bhabie accused of "blackfishing"—"What happened to her face?" (2024)

Rapper Bhad Bhabie has been accused of "blackfishing" after sharing a brief video clip in which she appears to have significantly darker skin.

The 19-year-old, born Danielle Bregoli, posted an Instagram story on Sunday that showed she had switched her usually brunette curly locks to blonde, though it was her skin tone and full lips that became talking points across social media.

As the seconds-long video was circulated on Twitter, many users on the micro-blogging platform accused her of blackfishing, which such stars as Iggy Azalea, Jesy Nelson, and the Kardashian sisters have also been accused of over the years.

The term blackfishing has been credited—at least in part—to hip-hop journalist Wanna Thompson, according to NBC News. In 2018, Thompson shared a Twitter thread of a string of non-Black public figures who had used makeup, visual effects, and cosmetic surgery to appear Black or mixed race.

It has been compared to blackface, the racist, centuries-old practice of a non-Black person wearing dark makeup, often to mock Black people.

"Is this not Bhad Bhabie blackfishing?" one Twitter user said above a screenshot from the clip. "Thought I was looking at a Black woman on my timeline."

Noting the apparent difference in her features, another asked: "What happened to her face??"

Blending the names of Iggy Azalea, who is white, and Black rapper Megan Thee Stallion, another wrote: "What the Iggy Thee Stallion cosplay is this?!!"

"This was her last month," tweeted another, who shared a photo of the musician looking notably paler during her appearance at Oxford University.

During her visit to the prestigious U.K. university, Bhabie sat down for a Q&A with the president of the Oxford Union about her career and life experiences.

"Not Bhad Bhadie blackfishing!" read another comment on the platform. "I'm tired of this gurl!"

Alongside the post were purported screenshots of Bhabie's Instagram stories, in which she showed the shade of the foundation she used on her face, which appeared to be significantly lighter than her skin tone in the video.

In another post, Bhabie wrote: "Don't ever ask me again why I don't b on [Instagram]. I don't make no money on here. I don't need to b on here. I do it for my fans, but y'all take it too far every time. It's honestly sad and weird."

Other Twitter users reacted by sharing a video from 2020, in which Bhabie defended herself from accusations of styling herself as a Black woman.

"Y'all just want to hate me, no matter what I do," she said in the video. "I f****** get my makeup done, now I'm Black! Get the f*** out of here... That's the makeup light. It's supposed to—I guess it's not supposed to—but it just made me look darker... Y'all are stupid as f***.

"If I wanted to be f****** Black, you would hear me talking about, 'I'm Black. I'm Black.' I would be saying the n-word, I would be doing s*** Black people do... Who wants to be Black!? I don't understand that. I just can't comprehend it."

She added: "I can't help that I act a little bit 'hood,' or if I act what y'all would say is 'more Black.' I'm sorry, that's the type of people I grew up around," she said. "Y'all say that I 'try to be Black' because maybe [the] reason is because I grew up in the hood. Tarzan, right? The story of Tarzan."

After facing backlash for her comments, Bhabie issued an apology, saying on Instagram: "I apologize to anyone who was offended by what I said. It was not meant how it was taken.

"I would like for y'all to understand that I didn't mean it in a bad way I was saying it like, 'Who are you talking about?' Not meaning it's bad to [be] that. Please don't twist my words. I truly never meant to offend anyone.

"This is the last time I will defend myself on this topic yall can't twist what ever you want but I know what I truly mean."

Bhabie shot to fame when she sat down with Phil McGraw on his show as a guest on a 2016 episode titled "I Want To Give Up My Car-Stealing, Knife-Wielding, Twerking 13-Year-Old Daughter Who Tried To Frame Me For A Crime."

During the episode, Bhabie claimed that she stole cars and credit cards, and when she was vexed by the live audience's laughter, she referred to them as "hoes," before challenging them to a fight, saying: "Cash me outside, how 'bout dah?"

Six years after appearing on that infamous episode of the Dr. Phil show, the "Hi Bich" hitmaker said she now wishes to be celebrated for her recent accomplishments.

Speaking in a video shared by TMZ in April, she listed her achievements and said she wanted to be referred to as "the girl who made over f****** $50 million on OnlyFans!"

While it is unclear whether Bhabie's fortune has actually reached the heights of $50 million, she did rake in more than $1 million in just six hours after launching her OnlyFans account over a year ago. The account debuted days after she turned 18.

OnlyFans is popular with adult film stars, who can charge their fans for exclusive content that would normally be seen as too risqué for Instagram. Bhabie told Variety in 2021 that she appears scantily clad on the site and only shows what she's "comfortable with."

Newsweek has contacted a representative of Bhabie for comment.