Tulisa Contostavlos has responded to Misha B's claims that she was made to look like a bully on The X Factor because of her race. The X Factor contestant said that Tulisa and Louis Walsh's comments during a live show suggesting that she had made "mean" comments to other contestants backstage was part of a negative narrative created for her and was untrue. The singer added that her experience on the show left her suicidal and struggling with PTSD.
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WATCH: Tulisa responds to Misha B's claims
Speaking in a video posted on Instagram, she explained: "Feisty, mean, these are the common words people use to describe black women. At that moment I just remember feeling like my whole world stopped... These judges spent about one per cent of the time with me and their contestants, apart from Gary [Barlow] and Kelly [Rowland]. My understanding is you've created this whole narrative of me being overconfident because you are black and black girls are not supposed to be confident."
Misha B spoke about her experiences on the show
She also said that the nickname 'Misha B' was created for a reason, explaining: "Little did I know this was a part of their corrupted agenda, to play into the 'Misha Bully' that they already orchestrated prior to this. Little did I know." Tulisa posted a video on Instagram in response to Misha on Monday night, which she captioned: "I have witnessed black people being torn down in the industry, especially black women. It is a very real and serious issue. But my issue at that time was a response to actions and was in no way shape or form about race. I have never and will never take part in any oppressive or racist agenda."
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There has been a huge outpouring of support for Misha
In the video, the former X Factor judge says: "I'm not taking away from how Misha feels, I accept that she is entitled to her opinion and I'm sorry if she feels that the situation was racially motivated. I can only speak from my side of the situation which is that it 100 per cent was not. One thing I regret was calling her out publicly the way that I did. If I was the person that I am today, who is more emotionally intelligent and has more life experience, I would have handled it in a very different way and for that, I am truly sorry and I deeply regret. But to say and make claims - and I'm not saying she's doing that, but people are online - that it was racially motivated - is ludicrous."
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Tulisa denied her comments was racially motivated
She continued: "It's nothing to do with race. I didn't wake up and go, 'I want to cause some drama for Misha B because of the colour of her skin.' She did some things that I felt I needed to pull her up on. These things were real and they were happening."
