The infamous Instagram gossip account, The Shade Room, has recently been put on blast by R&B singer Summer Walker.
“The Shade Room is such a disgusting place,” Walker said. “It’s where the insecure feel their most confident. It’s where people’s lower selves thrive.”
Walker also added that the page instigates cyberbullying. She made a valid point, since people regularly tune in to the posts from the Instagram account to poke fun at its content.
This isn’t the first time that a celebrity has publicly criticized the account and their way of using their platform. The Shade Room has been commonly grouped in the same category as TMZ and The Breakfast Club. In a quickly deleted Instagram post, actor Lakeith Stanfield said these social media platforms were “anti-black” and problematic for the Black community.
“The Shade Room, Lipstick Alley, Breakfast Club, Worldstar and many others are anti-black,” the November 13 Instagram post read.
Stanfield and Walker aren’t wrong. Whether it is Lizzo being fat shamed, 12-year-old Zion Wade being called homophobic slurs or any misogynistic comment concerning Black women, this page is a trashy source to receive pop culture related news.
Twitter user @MasinElije shared his opinion about the page and their frequent posting of the LGBTQ+ community.
“I low key think The Shade Room is homophobic,” Elije said. “They are always posting EJ Johnson (Magic Johnson’s gay son) for jokes and laughs knowing the followers will only tear him down. That’s so wack to me honestly.”
On these posts that include members of the LGBTQ+ community, the comment section usually includes several crying-laughing emojis that are followed by questionably homophobic/transphobic statements.
The Shade Room founder Angelica Nwandu may not have created the page with the intent for it to be a space to harbor such negative feedback, but that’s what has been created.
Personally, I am happy that there is a Black woman, Nwandu, thriving somewhere in the world due to her success and cultural impact in the media, however, this page feeds off of the expense of other Black individuals.
Maybe it isn’t solely the fault of the page’s organizers, Roommates, as to why it’s such a negative space. The blame can also be placed on the individuals that support the page and negatively comment under their posts.
I blocked The Shade Room and their sister page, The Shade Room Teens, a long time ago, and I suggest that you all do the same.
The Shade Room is a disgusting, pitiful platform that is anti-Black.