FLY labels treatment of Princess Nokia “an embarrassment”

Yesterday it was reported that Princess Nokia, headliner at the Cambridge Univeristy Charity Fashion Show, hit someone in the middle of her set as they were being “disrespectful”. 

FLYgirlsofcambridge have since issued a statement on the treatment of Princess Nokia, arguing that “the disgraceful public display of sexism and misogynoir” is “an embarassment”.

In their statment, representatives of FLY said they met with Princess Nokia backstage, where she said that ‘she could “see him [an audience member] mouthing dirty obscenities like, show me your tits.'”

Princess Nokia says she has a zero tolerance policy towards sexism and sexual harassment

FLY further developed that they “would like to reaffirm our solidarity with Princess Nokia, and also express our respect for her willingness to share her experience with us despite being obviously upset by the night’s events.”

Concluding their statement, FLY argued that the incident towards Princess Nokia was not isolated, but rather that it should be viewed as “symptomatic of the increasing hostility white-dominated spaces and institutions project towards people of colour.”

What occured before the audience member was hit remains unclear. The Cambridge Student, having spoken to the audience member who was hit, said that they simply said “Let’s go Abigail” because  “I was standing in the audience and was told by a fellow audience member that the name of the performer was ‘Abigail’.”

The fashion show was the scene of the unfolding drama

A witness who was “close enough that their sleeve was wet from the drink that Princess Nokia threw” told The Tab today that they did not witness the audience member shouting obsenities, and confirmed that all he said was “Let’s go Abigail”.

After the incident, Princess Nokia retweeted @rosamariot, who said “@princesnokia just punched a white guy in the face for disrespecting  [sic] at a gig in Cambridge and walked off stage, i am LIVING YES GIRL”, confirming that violence was used. This retweet has since been deleted from Princess Nokia’s timeline.

An editors note on the FLY statement said “We would like to add that Princess Nokia did explicitly state during her conversation with Jason and Richelle that she “does not condone violence” but reiterated that she felt that the violence and harassment directed towards her compromised her safety.”