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Sheryl Lee Ralph says she didn’t know who Amber Rose was when she posted a picture of the buxom beauty on Instagram. We understand how impossible that seems since Amber Rose has been making headlines almost everyday this week.

Sheryl thought she was posting a “beautiful picture” of a “young girl” on her Instagram and inspiring a thoughtful dialogue on what she calls “twisted” ideals of “Black beauty.” However, her message was lost and Amber’s legion of rose buds attempted to drag the living legend through Internet mud. Sheryl’s followers reacted with rude comments. One person wrote, “I lost respect for you.” If you think it seems harsh or dramatic, it is.

Sheryl then made an edit to the photo caption, adding, “Does anyone know the story of the Venus Hottentot? AKA Sarah Baartman?” to clarify her intentions. It certainly added more fuel to the fire.

Instagram Photo

After more than 200 mixed comments, Sheryl decided to address her fans and defend her intentions.

Read her EXCLUSIVE response to HelloBeautiful, below:

Saturday morning, I posted what I thought was a beautiful picture of an obviously young woman. You know one of those pictures you see that says, “Come to Jamaica and feel alright?” The picture was shot from behind, so I did not see the young blonde woman’s face. I had spoken to a transgender woman, who said I was being ‘naive’ thinking all the behinds I see in photographs of the new young social media princesses and vixens are real. She said, they were all just silicone.

She had silicone injections to create her rear end. She also let me know that it can be very expensive but there are ways to get it done cheaper. Forgive me for misspelling ‘naive’ and not knowing that the picture I posted was of a young woman by the name Amber Rose. I couldn’t put a face to name. But I also thought the picture was of a young White woman. I found it amazing how the image and ideal of Black beauty has gotten so twisted.

If you think back to the turn of the last century, a woman on the freak show circuit called Venus Hottentot had a very large posterior. The young Khoikhoi woman had been brought over from South Africa and put on display throughout Europe for all to see. That large behind was the subject of many scientific debates about female sexuality.

It was believed that the lack of a large posterior was what made white women normal or human. A large posterior and large genitalia made African women more savage, even wild. Upon her death, scientists took that part of her anatomy and toured it around the freak show circuit as they had done her in part of her life. A real American Horror story.

And now, the shape of our big behinds are implanted, injected, squeezed into women of lighter, brighter, Whiter hues. And all of a sudden, it’s beautiful? How were things that were so beautifully Black to begin with, become so twisted? Why is it ugly, animal like on me and beautiful on them?

Larger posteriors are now a bona-fide symbol of beauty. Well, I love you enough to let you know that you are beautiful, big butt and all young sister. It’s you. It’s who you are and you are beautiful. Why are we continuing to look to somebody else to validate who we are? My beautiful unmistakable Black girls, you are beautiful. Look how much people are paying to get your lips, look how beautiful your full lips are. Look how much people are paying to be a darker shade of pale.

A thoughtful IG commenter posted, ‘I think [Ms. Ralph] is pointing out that she didn’t know that most of these women in the pubic eye had a fake booty no matter how real it looks, it’s still fake. She probably added on the Hottentot question to make it seem like she’s not throwing shade because I’m not really sure that’s he intention. But to also shed light on now, big booties are becoming a bigger trend. Women are paying money to enhance their bottoms proudly putting themselves on display. Focusing on their sexuality instead of themselves as a whole. It’s hard to not see that woman with large behinds in the media get a lot of attention.’ Thank you!

So on this first day of Women’s History Month, I want to say, Amber Rose you took a beautiful picture on the beach, girl and I posted it and now we’re talking about all of this. If I knew you, I’d probably love you and sorry I thought you were white.

But like I said, let’s not get the idea of Black beauty twisted. OK? Let’s keep it real, in fact lets keep it 1000 I know, y’all want to keep it 100, let’s be 1,000.

PS- I DON’T THROW SHADE. Read my book

What do you think about Sheryl’s response?

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Sheryl Lee Ralph Responds To Amber Rose’s Fans [EXCLUSIVE]  was originally published on hellobeautiful.com