Scheana Shay‘s heart was in the right place with her fan contest that would also help raise money for “non-profit supporting organizations, families, and educators in taking action to disrupt racism in young children.” But the Instagram snap she used on July 14 to detail how people could get involved in the contest raised some eyebrows among fans. In the photo taken by Clint Brandon Cave, the Vanderpump Rules star’s skin was more tan than she usually appears. She also wore her hair up with some tight braids, which led to accusations that Scheana was trying to sport cornrows. One fan even told Scheana she was Blackfishing. The Bravo star clapped back hard at the haters coming down on her pretty photo.
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Scheana could be seen in an oversized black hoodie, while wearing large gold hoop earrings. She had her long dark locks up in a high pony, with a number of braids in her hair along the scalp. Between what looked like a heavy dose of self-tanner on her face and the hair style, one user wrote, “omg. blackfishing, seriously?” Scheana then had to jump into the ensuing debate to defend herself.
User @cmaksunny told the user who made the Blackfishing comment, “the thought immediately came to mind,” as @prauschcoleman agreed with the poster, saying “right? Tone deaf much?” When user @jessepix07 told the original poster, that “u cant get this color ever n if u do that’s black fishing. Sheena is dark and that’s her color,” the Blackfishing poster responded, “I’m a woman of color and I know better than to pull what she’s doing.”
Scheana clapped back to the original poster that she hadn’t done anything to alter her skin color. “My skin isn’t even darkening here. I’m half Mexican and tan. It’s also the lighting. Ask my friend @clintbrandoncave who took the pic!” She then went on to address her hair situation in the photo, later adding “If they saw my vlog too they’d know why I have the braids and they’re called Dutch braids too,” then writing in another comment, “also I had to get stitches in my scalp which is the main reason for the 4.”
While a number of fans went back and forth about whether or not Scheana had really darkened her skin or was appropriating with her hair, one user named @mariadolores17 had a good laugh about it all. The fan wrote, “She looks like Ross in the tanning episode…definitely a bit too far,” about the iconic Friends episode from season ten where Ross accidentally got three deep tanning booth sessions during one malfunctioning experience.