Big Brother ’s Ashley Hollis Addresses Claim She’s Not Black
Big Brother ’s Ashley Hollis Addresses Claim She’s Not Black
Originally appeared on E! Online
Ashley Hollis isn’t tolerating disrespect outside of the house.
Indeed, the reigning Big Brother winner—who took home the title during the season 27 finale on Sept. 28—responded to comments about her racial identity after fellow house guest Mickey Lee claimed that she was the only “traditional Black woman” on the show.
“When a castmate from your season does an interview saying you’re not Black,” Ashley, 25, wrote on her Oct. 27 TikTok video, which sees her dancing with her parents. She then pointed out their familial traits and race, saying, “Looks like two black parents to me.”
Though Ashley didn’t publicly name her former castmate, fans in the comments section quickly pointed out the statement Mickey, 35, made about her experience as a Black woman competing in the Big Brother house.
Shortly after she was eliminated from the CBS series on Sept. 5, she clarified her words.
“I am 100 percent African American,” Mickey told Entertainment Tonight at the time. “I come from areas where I do experience a lot of racism. I’ve never had a leg up in certain opportunities. I think I am the only one that experienced that. I do believe that Ashley is African American as well, but we do come from different backgrounds.”
She continued, “When I say traditional Black girl, I mean the ones that people always stereotype.”
Mickey doubled down on her stance that following month, explaining that she believed she was “the only Black woman in the house that was being treated through a stereotypical lens.”
“I felt like I was being asked a lot of questions about my hair being real or people insisting that my hair was not real because it was so long,” she shared in her Oct. 10 TikTok. “I was asked if I knew who my father was because I said I was raised in a single parent household. I was asked about food stamps, rap songs, do I know how to twerk on a handstand, so on and so forth.”
And while she wanted to share insight into her experience on the show, Mickey noted that she didn’t intend to “invalidate or devalue anyone’s Blackness.”
“Not to say that I was treated badly,” she continued, “but I did feel as though it was a lot of pressure on me to perform and live up to these stereotypes that people had me boxed in as.”
