On Monday, July 15, model and influencer Amber Rose addressed the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The former reality show star told the crowd, “These are my people. This is where I belong.”
“I realized Donald Trump and his supporters don’t care if you’re Black, white, gay or straight. It’s all love,” she explained.
Rose didn’t stop there. Later, she claimed that the “left” had spread lies about presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump and argued that the “media has lied to us about Donald Trump.”
“I’m here tonight to tell you, no matter your political background, that the best chance we have to give our babies a better life is to elect Donald Trump president of the United States,” she added.
Rose’s remarks were received well by the crowd at the convention, but did receive pushback from those online and in mass media. More specifically, conservative personality Matt Walsh called the influencer a “pro-abortion feminist and self-proclaimed s—t with a face tattoo.”
“The RNC gives a primetime speaking slot to a pro-abortion feminist and self-proclaimed s—t with a face tattoo whose only claim to fame is having sex with rappers. Truly an embarrassment. Not a single voter will be mobilized by this person,” he wrote.
However, his remarks were met with pushback from other conservative voices online, including PragerU personality Xaviaer DuRousseau.
“Excuse me, Matt Walsh? You are the problem. Thank you, Amber Rose for your fearlessness and excellent speech here at the RNC Convention,” DuRousseau replied.
In a less crude manner, MSNBC’s Joy Reid also questioned if voters would be mobilized by Rose’s words.
“She’s racially ambiguous. I don’t want to say [that] she’s Black because she has she’s not, so I don’t want to say, ‘This Black woman.’ This woman, who is of whatever race that she has claimed. She said she’s not Black. But they’ve brought somebody whose whole career is based in Black culture. She used to be on a show on BET. That’s the reason most people know who she is. She date one of the most prominent African-American rappers in the history of Hip-Hop. So, her whole culture came from Black culture,” she said.
“The fact that she is now the person they’re using to try to recruit young people of color and to say, this is the person who is the endorser of Donald Trump who you should trust when she won’t even claim the culture that brought her to the table…I’m dubious that his will work.
She later added, “I don’t know anyone who takes their political cues from Amber Rose, but just in case you do, you might want to duplicate doing your own research because she might not have done it thoroughly.”
To the contrary, CNN’s Van Jones had a different take. From his viewpoint, Roses’s speech was the “most dangerous” for the Democratic coalition.
“That was probably the most dangerous speech for the Democratic coalition,” Jones said.
“That is a young woman of color. She is describing the experience that a lot of people have — feeling that maybe, if you’re around too many liberals, you might get criticized too much or you might not be able to speak your mind, and she spoke to it really well.”
Rose is not the only celebrity expected to hit the stage during the convention. UFC President Dana White and a selection of country music artists are also expected to make their way to Milwaukee before the convention ends on July 18.
