Dawn Richard Recalls Ignorant Jimmy Iovine Comments: “He Looked At Puff And Said, ‘Why Don’t You Have Two Light Skinned Girls?'”

While discussing Danity Kane and trying to reclaim their power as women with Cosmopolitan, Richard revealed a shocking claim that she and Kalenna Harper’s skin tone was the subject of music by a top music executive and producer, and that Diddy essentially did nothing to defend them.

Richard’s claims came from adding on to how women are treated as objects and not people. While Aubrey O’Day shared her time on Celebrity Apprentice, and talked about how the producers tried to make her dress a certain way, Richard called her time in Dirty Money with co-partner, Harper and questioned why they were in a group together.

Richard says that while in front of 50 people in a boardroom,”Jimmy Iovine told Kalenna and I to our face, he looked at Puff and said, ‘Why don’t you have two light skinned girls?’

Richard continues to say Iovine said, “these girls are too ugly. I don’t get it. What are you trying to do with this?” Relating to O’Day felt, stating that “you know you’re more than this and you’re sitting there and you’re being told as a grown woman you’re ugly.”

Richard also claims that instead of defending them, Diddy wanted to change their minds by changing their appearance. “And the worst part was my boss then said when we left, ‘I need y’all to go put on a mini-skirt and we’re gonna straighten your hair’ and they brought us back in the room. And he still didn’t get it. No one fought for us, ever. We’ve only had to fight for ourselves. There was no one who was willing to say, ‘We have your back.'”

Now, while Richard does not explicitly disrespect Diddy, or discredit him or what he has done for her, this moment appears more as a moment of extreme disappoint. Possibly anger, but Richard has continued to propel her career and maintain herself. Check out the full Cosmopolitan interview here.