Woman in viral blackface picture says using the n-word was just a 'joke'
Many on social media want Amazon to fire a woman for wearing blackface and writing the N-word on Facebook — but that employee is long gone, the company tells Yahoo Lifestyle.
“The former employee left the company in April 2018,” an Amazon spokesperson tells Yahoo Lifestyle about Jessica Rebella of Fall River, Mass. Rebello and a friend recently wore painted black faces for a Facebook photo, writing, “We the [N-word] of the house.”
On Tuesday, Rebello wrote, “To all the ones not in my inbox with the racist comments, I apologize if you felt offended cuz that wasn’t the intention behind the post,” she wrote on Facebook. “To those that are claiming racism but yet you’re in my inbox with racist comments toward all whites, next time don’t assume things and do the same thing you’re accusing me of doing, and you’ll get the apology you were looking for, but I will not apologize to someone doing the same thing they are accusing me of doing.”
Rebello said on Facebook that the N-word had multiple meanings — per Urban Dictionary, a crowd-sourced slang guide: “For all the people that wanna claim there’s only one meaning of the word and that it’s nothing more than a derogatory term toward blacks,” she wrote, “do yourselves a favor and go on the Urban Dictionary, cuz there’s about ten definitions of the term and not all of them are racist.”
Giving two alleged examples, Rebello said her usage “wasn’t a racial dig,” just a “joke.” Later, she wrote the black substance on her and her friend’s faces was a “stupid charcoal mask” and that her 9-year-old daughter has been pulled into the “bulls***.”
Rebello did not return an interview request from Yahoo Lifestyle.
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