Leigh-Anne Pinnock's documentaryLeigh-Anne: Race, Pop & Power is an in-depth look into racism and colourism within the pop industry, and details the singer's experience being the only Black member of Little Mix. Colourism, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is "prejudice or discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone, typically among people of the same ethnic or racial group", which is commonly experienced within the Black community.
Throughout the documentary, Pinnock interviews a number of dark-skinned Black women in prominent positions, including Nao, Alexandra Burke, Keisha Buchanan, and MP Dawn Butler, which results in a number of important revelations about the UK music industry and the treatment of dark-skinned women in the public eye. She also addresses colourism within her own relationship, openly discussing harmful tweets made by her partner, Andre Gray, back in 2012, which were exposed in 2016.
Overall, Pinnock's documentary covers a wealth of ground as far as racism and colourism in the UK music industry is concerned, but it also opens up much wider conversations about the treatment of Black women in the UK, leading to some significant discoveries. Ahead, read about the biggest and most important revelations from the documentary, which is available to watch on BBC iPlayer now.
Leigh-Anne Pinnock Addresses Andre Gray's Racist Tweets
Image Source: BBC Pictures
Back in 2016, Gray came under fire for racist tweets that he shared about Black women in 2021. During the documentary, Pinnock and Gray discuss the tweets that were picked up by the press after the pair had been dating for a few months. Pinnock explains that Gray wrote the tweets years ago, and that she knows now that they were "a blatant example of colourism", admitting that seeing them made her feel "a bit sick".
In response, Gray says: "This is what happens when you are kids, you do become a product of your environment. So whatever you were around every day — and you're not educated on it or exposed to why it is wrong — then it kind of sticks." He adds that there's no excuse for what he said, and that he felt embarrassed and ashamed once they surfaced. "I've made that mistake and I have learnt and educated myself and grew up to understand how offensive and how wrong it was in what I did," he says.
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Alexandra Burke Shares That She Was Encouraged to Bleach Her Skin
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During a pivotal moment in the documentary, Pinnock sits down with Buchanan, Raye, Nao, and Burke, who discusses her experience following being on The X Factor. "I remember when my mum used to take me to certain management companies — I won't name them now, because they're still friends and it's all good and it's all love — but when I was 15, they told me and said, 'We've got one Black person, we can't have another,' and I got that a couple of times," Burke says. She also admits that she was told to bleach her skin and that she was "too dark to be in the industry".
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Sugababes' Keisha Buchanan Reveals She Didn't Leave, She Was Replaced
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Buchanan opens up about her experience leaving Sugababes, telling the girls: "When I was going to exit the group Sugababes, I don't know if many people know but I didn't actually leave, I was replaced, whilst still being in the band. I remember being sat down and basically told that this person feels bullied, that person feels bullied."
She adds: "If I had an opinion, it was like, 'OK, you're being a bully,' and that was the word. That whole situation changed the course of my life. It affected me emotionally, mentally, financially. I have confidence issues and I'm feeling like the whole time that I can't have an opinion."
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MP Dawn Butler Says She Had to Close Her Office Due to Racist Attacks
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Pinnock meets up with Butler in a local cafe to discuss her experiences with racism within the political sphere. The MP reveals the level of abuse she's suffered, noting, "I've had to close my office because of the racism." She tells Pinnock: "I was getting calls at 3 o'clock in the morning, abusive answer-phone messages. I was attacked on the train, that was horrific. One day I turned up and my staff had bought themselves a stab vest."
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Leigh-Anne Pinnock Calls on Sony Music to Diversify Little Mix's Team
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Throughout the documentary, Pinnock becomes more and more aware that the teams working with Little Mix on shoots and at events are almost always white, and that there is a serious need to diversify their team.
Toward the end of the documentary, Pinnock says, "I do have the power to demand change from the people that work with me," and ends up reaching out to her own management team and Sony Music to make some changes. She arranges a meeting with the label, and discusses the significance of representation in the team with fellow bandmate Jade Thirlwall.
Eventually, Pinnock has a meeting with three members of the team, questioning their diversity figures, the work they've done to increase Black representation at the company, and the Little Mix team at the label, calling for change.
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Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Andre Gray, and Her Family Announce They Started The Black Fund
At the end of the documentary, Pinnock announces that she — along with Gray and her sister — started a nonprofit organisation to give back to Black communities and provide them with funding opportunities. Called The Black Fund, the organisation strives to channel both finances and other support to charities that are already doing important work to empower Black communities.
