Hailey Bieber Defends Normani After A Troll Attacks Her Cher Halloween Costume

Halloween 2019 came and went, and while there were some problematic missteps, the opposite problem also reared its head: trolls accusing POC celebrities of “whiteface,” when no such thing occurred.

Normani donned a gorgeous Halloween costume recreation of an iconic 1979 photo of Cher, where she wore nothing but a long sparkling headpiece and sheer angel wings. After a troll left a comment claiming that Normani should only dress up as other Black artists, Hailey Bieber replied, pointing out that the comment made no sense.

“I don’t think this is the right costume for a Black girl, Cher is white and Cher was thin, Cher did a lot. You[‘re] not even close to her. You Black people think you own everything. Not fair. You could’ve done Beyonce or Rihanna or Janet but no Cher Cher is white respect her,” wrote Martaberr_92628.

The commenter ignored that Cher is half-Armenian, which immediately complicates this idea that only white people should dress up as white people. In particular, since many Arab and Middle Eastern people identify as people of color, to call Cher white is incorrect.

“There is absolutely nothing wrong with Normani dressing up as Cher for Halloween. What do mean by the first sentence? She can do it because she wants to, she is doing much better than you, you’re behind a computer complaining about a costume. Stop being racist and get out of her page if you don’t like it. It’s 2019 and you’re still supporting the garbage of Trump, Marta,” wrote Bieber in her reply. 

Unfortunately, this is not the first time Normani has had to deal with racist comments. When she was in Fifth Harmony, she was frequently cyberbullied for being the only Black member of the girl group, which eventually led to her leaving Twitter in 2016. She did, however, return shortly after and partnered with Cybersmile, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness about online hate.

“The hate is not going to stop, but I needed to make a point that you can’t run away from a bully. You can’t allow someone’s hate to dictate your life,” said Normani upon her return to the platform.