Fifth Harmony star Normani Kordei is turning her back on Twitter because she is sick and tired of the hateful and racist remarks she has been subjected to online.
The singer, who is of African-American descent, found herself under fire last week (ends05Aug16) after she appeared to struggle to name the best qualities of her bandmate Camila Cabello during a Facebook Live interview with Galore magazine.
While she lavished praise on her other Fifth Harmony pals Lauren Jauregui, Ally Brooke and Dinah-Jane Hansen, she kept her thoughts about Camila short and sweet, simply describing her as "quirky" and "cute". Her blunt response sparked rumours of a feud between the two stars, and prompted fans to take sides.
Normani took to Twitter on Friday (05Aug16) to dismiss the "foolishness" of some trolls' comments, revealing she had become accustomed to being the target of "unjust hate and slander", but by Saturday (06Aug16), she had had enough.
In a lengthy note on the microblogging site, the 20-year-old admitted she could no longer stand being tormented by racists online, and Normani declared she would be logging off for an extended hiatus.
"Over the past four years of being in the public eye I've learned to grow a thick skin to critics and those who may not like me," she wrote. "I've never been one to deny anyone of their opinions, but over the course of this last week and especially over the last 48 hours I've not just been cyber bullied, I've been racially cyberbullied with tweets and pictures so horrific and racially charged that I can't subject myself any longer to the hate."
The pop star went on to take aim at her cyber bullies and urged her followers to rise above the hate.
"I'm not the first black female celebrity to deal with this and I'm sure I won't be the last," she continued. "I want to take this moment to say Love goes much further than hate in this world. Hiding behind a computer and putting people down, especially for the color of their skin doesn't make you cool, it makes you a coward!"
"I have nothing but love for everyone, even my haters and I hope I can lead by example," Normani concluded, before revealing she had called on Twitter bosses to deal with some particularly nasty trolls.
Her candid post won her words of encouragement from her peers, including Becky G, who tweeted, "You're so strong. You're right, love does go farther than hate in this. If only everyone saw it that way. Much love xo."
Normani's bandmate Camila also took to social media to denounce the hatred.
"You don't have to hate on somebody else to support me," she explained. "I don't appreciate it and it's not what I'm about... Be kind or move on."
