General Hospital fan favorite Tabyana Ali just graced Maurice Benard’s (Sonny Corinthos) hit YouTube series, State of Mind, as his latest guest. In this episode, Ali, who plays Trina Robinson on GH, talks about racism, depression, and more.
As Maurice brought up the topic of people not liking her, Ali explained, “People didn’t like that I was black if I’m being quite frank.”
She went on to say, “It’s silly; I, um, at first I wasn’t really thinking too much about it, you know. Then there was a moment where I had an interesting—I don’t want to say self-esteem issue going on, but I started noticing multiple little things, and they all kind of tied up together, but a lot of people were talking about my blackness and saying that, you know, I wasn’t pretty for a black girl or too dark or a monkey, or that my worth did not amount to my counterparts, or, um, you know, they were going to hang me and lynch me, and I had those threats, you know, and I thought how interesting.
But the thing that kind of set me off was that after the Emmys, I was scrolling through Twitter—I’ve deleted Twitter at this point—but I was on Twitter, and I just kept seeing people talking about how I looked like a monkey in my dress, and I was like, what? I kept looking, and it just was sitting on my feed, and I kept seeing people reply to it or talk about it or whatever.
So then I was like, well, I’m kind of tired of this now; maybe I should say something because not saying anything is way worse than just ignoring it, and I’m typically like, what you got to say about me, what you think of me is none of my business, you know? And then, but I was like, this is about race, this is racism, this is not just like, oh, I just—I don’t like her dress or the makeup she has on doesn’t look good; this is something else a little. So I was like, ignoring it would be bad on my part, so I decided to say something.”
At the time of the racist comments on X, Ali responded, “To anyone that hates me. That’s absolutely fine. I don’t know you and you don’t me but regardless I’m sending you peace, safety, and prosperity… I also pray you touch some grass, see the sun, eat a delicious meal, and find something to do.” She added, “If you see anybody sending hate, send a “[mirror]”so they can reflect on themselves and start becoming the person the Lord intend!”
Watch the full episode below, where Maurice Benard and Tabyana Ali explore a range of captivating topics.
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