After a two-year hiatus from the micro-blogging site, Awkwafina returned to Twitter today, February 5th and said she meant no disrespect to the African-American community and revealed she was quitting Twitter.
“There is sociopolitical context to everything, especially the historical context of the African-American community in this Country. It is a group that is disproportionately affected by institutionalized policies and law enforcement policies – all the while having historically and routinely seen their culture stolen, exploited, and appropriated by the dominant culture for monetary gain without acknowledgment nor respect for where those roots come from, the pioneers of its beginnings and the artists that perfected and mastered the craft,” Awkwafina began.
“It is a problem we still see today – though some may pass it off as a convoluted mixture of the ‘internet TikTok slang generation’ that liberally uses AAVE, to add that hip hop – a genre of music that is ubiquitous and beloved across the country – has now anchored itself as a mainstream genre in music history. And in life, linguistic acculturation, immigrant acculturation, and the inevitable passage of globalized internet slang all play a factor in the fine line between offense and pop culture,” her statement continued.
Awkwafina said her undying love for Hip-Hop, her Asian background, as well as the movies and TV shows she watched as a child helped her carve her identity as an American when she was a young immigrant.
“And though I’m still learning and doing that personal work, I know for sure that want to spend the rest of my career doing nothing but uplifting our communities. We do this first by failing, learning, acknowledging, hearing and empathizing. And i will continue, tirelessy, to do just that,” Awkwafina said.
Awkwafina born Nora Lum launched her career as a rapper. However, the Queens, New York native rose to prominence in the hit show “Crazy Rich Asians” and movies like “Oceans 8.”
In 2018, she hit paydirt when she won the Golden Globe award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture for her performance in “The Fairwell.”
According to Awkwafina, she decided to quit the “in grown toenail” known as Twitter on the advice of her therapist and said she would return “in a few years.”