While serving as a guest host on “The View,” Raven-Symoné said she supports Miley Cyrus‘ desire not to be labeled for her sexuality, but added: “Miley, I agree with you and, girl, I said it first.”
Symoné was filling in for Whoopi Goldberg, who was dealing with a family issue, when Cyrus’ recent interview, in which she said she has relationships with both men and women, but does not want to be labeled “gay” or “straight,” came up.
“I think I heard that somewhere,” Symoné said. She then played a clip from a 2014 interview she did with Oprah Winfrey in which she said, ” I don’t want to be labeled gay. I want to be labeled a human who loves humans. I’m tired of being labeled. I’m an American. I’m not an African-American. I’m an American.”
“They thought I said I wasn’t black and I didn’t want to be labeled,” Symone said of the backlash she received after the interview. “Miley, I agree, we should not be labeled because it creates tension between people and you feel like you can look down, like that’s this type of person and this is how I should feel about you.”
“I think it’s a generational thing because I think that there was a time where labels were necessary because we were disenfranchised,” co-host Rosie Perez said.
“We were ostracized from the conversation. So to put ourselves into the conversation, to take our seat at the table, there was a need to say, ‘Wait a minute, I am this. I’m not ashamed of it and I’m going to speak out,’” Perez said.
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