Janelle Monae didn't take kindly to a fan on social media whose backhanded praise for their recent fashion choices rubbed the actor/singer the wrong way.
Last year, the Glass Onion star came out as nonbinary. They use both she/her and they/them pronouns.
The activist for the LGBTQ+ community expressed in an interview with the Red Table Talk show that they didn't see themself as “a woman, solely,” but rather as “beyond the binary.”
When it comes to fashion, they have been known for their androgynous style in the earlier part of their career. They often wore a tux and bowtie at various public events.
It has been said that their look was a nod to dandyism—an ostentatiously refined style prevalent among self-made male artists during the 19th century.
And Monae wore it well and continued pushing the sartorial boundaries by challenging gender norms.
These days, however, Monae seems to have ditched their signature nonbinary look inspired by their role models, Grace Jones and Josephine Baker.
At least for now.
On February 5, Monae turned heads at the pre-Grammy gala when they showed up wearing a stunning black gown and leather gloves.
Prior to the Grammys last month, Monae also stunned at the Critics' Choice Awards wearing a sheer turtleneck Vera Wang gown.
At the event, the 37-year-old actor was honored with the #SeeHer Award for playing their characters "authentically, escaping stereotypes and pushing boundaries," and standing up for gender equality.
Online, however, social medial users highlighted a different achievement from that night.
One Twitter user expressed relief at Monae's elegant manner of dress and wrote:
"janelle monae finally showing off how fine she is instead of dressing like the monopoly man."
Another user also poked fun, saying Monae's former look was more like the WB frog.
The tweet that compared Monae to the classic board game mascot went viral and eventually caught the attention of Monae, who responded to the thread with:
"Ohh y’all n***as liked this 26.8k times?? no new music just for this."
@JanelleMonae/Twitter
They weren't finished.
Their responses which started off seemingly in jest turned serious when Monae made a comment presumably in response to the impossible beauty standards placed on women and nonbinary people.
Monae wrote, “GET THE F**K OFF MY AREOLA," which was in reference to their songs “Yoga” and “Screwed.”
@gldnraes/Twitter
Realizing the singer meant business, fans came to their side with supportive tweets.
Fans of Monae's music pleaded not to be lumped together with the haters.
Monae hasn't released an album since their third studio and concept album Dirty Computer back in 2018.
And by the look of how things are going online, Monae stans won't be hearing new material anytime soon if the disrespect continues.
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