On his Brilliant Idiots podcast, Charlamagne Tha God revealed that South African singer Tyla’s record label imposed an unreasonable number of off-limit questions prior to her Breakfast Club interview, which aired on June 13. The two-time author said, “There were six things they didn’t want us to ask about, including Kai Cenat and the whole ‘we friends tho’ situation. Like, huh?”
Previously, Tyla had joined a live stream with personality Kai Cenat, who asked her out, to which Tyla responded, “We friends though.” This line was later humorously used by Kevin Hart during his own live streaming marathon with Kai, just a day before Tyla’s Breakfast Club interview.
“They didn’t want us to ask about her not being on tour with Chris Brown anymore, they didn’t want us to ask about the color thing, her injury, or who she was dating, which I wouldn’t do anyway. It was all frivolous things,” Charlamagne said. Tyla’s team also asked that the Breakfast Club steer clear of comparisons to other pop artists, including Rihanna.
Tyla’s interview on the Breakfast Club went well for the most part until it took an awkward turn when Charlamagne questioned Tyla about debates on her racial identity. A voice off-camera asked to move on, but Charlamagne insisted on keeping the moment in the final edit. Tyla later clarified on social media that she identifies as both Coloured in South Africa and Black globally, explaining the different racial classifications.
The term “Coloured” in South Africa has a distinct meaning, representing a unique community, unlike its racist connotation in the United States. South African journalist Misa Narrates emphasized that “Coloured” in South Africa denotes a distinct racial group formed during apartheid, differing from American racial classifications.
“I said to them, ‘No, I am not going to oblige any of this.’ It is your job then as label, management, or whoever to either prepare the artist for the questions or pull the interview,” Charlamagne reasoned.
Charlamagne’s explanation comes after rival radio host Hot 97’s Peter Rosenberg took to Twitter to accuse the Power 105 personality of blindsiding.
“Charlamagne blindsided Tyla with questions about a variety of topics and just saying mean things and being vulgar to her the second the interview started, just being nasty and a bully as he often can be. I just want to let you know why that is. We were given a list of things she did or did not want to talk about which is not unusual.”
“He then went down the list and intentionally blindsided her about every single topic that they said she hoped not to talk about,” Rosenberg said.
Charlamagne addressed comments made about him online without calling Rosenberg’s name by saying, “You have a lot of radio personalities, a lot of journalists who care more about those relationships with the labels than they do with relationships with the actual audience, and it shows. Not only does it show, you show your card when you say, “The label asked him not to do it and he did it anyway, so fck what, after I told the label I am not following that sh*t.”
Tyla’s Record label is Africa Creative Agency. Her international successes thus far include a Grammy Award and platinum Certification for her breakout single ‘Water.’
