Tyla Banned Questions About Kai Cenat, 'We Friends Though' During Charlamagne The God Interview
Charlamagne tha God is setting the record straight following the backlash over Tyla's recent "The Breakfast Club" interview.
Charlamagne was recently accused by radio DJ and TV host Peter Rosenberg of blindsiding Tyla and making the 22-year-old singer uncomfortable by asking her questions that her team likely informed him were off-limits.
During a recent episode of his "The Brilliant Idiots" show, Charlamagne confirmed that ahead of her appearance on "The Breakfast Club" earlier this month, Tyla's team did give him a laundry list of topics she didn't want to talk about.
These topics allegedly included Kai Cenat and Tyla's viral "We friends though" response to him asking her out on a date during a livestream in March.
Tyla's team also allegedly didn't want Charlamagne to ask about the Grammy winner's dating life, absence from Chris Brown's tour, recent injury, racial identity, and comparisons to other pop artists.
The radio host admitted that he asked Tyla about those topics anyway despite being aware she didn't want them to be brought up.
However, Charlamagne -- whose real name is Lenard Larry McKelvey -- clarified that there was no blindsiding involved because he turned down Tyla's team's request not to discuss these topics and made it clear he was going to ask about them during the interview.
"I said to [Tyla's team], 'No,'" Charlamagne told co-host and comedian Andrew Schulz, as seen in a clip shared by celrbrity news page The Neighborhood Talk on Instagram.
Charlamagne explained that he would usually "oblige" if the topics were very serious, personal, or traumatizing. However, he believed that these did not apply to the list provided by Tyla's team.
Charlamagne pointed out that just a day before Tyla's "Breakfast Club" appearance, Kevin Hart appeared on Cenat's livestream and brought a sign that read, "We friends tho," to troll him, so it would have been strange if he didn't mention it.
Addressing the backlash, Charlamagne said that since he had made his stance on the banned questions clear, it was the responsibility of Tyla's team to either prepare her for them or pull the interview altogether.
"When I say, 'No, I'm not going to oblige any of this,' it is your job then -- label, management, whoever -- to either prepare the artist for the questions or pull the interview. I'm fine with either or," Charlamagne said.
The radio host explained that his job was to ask questions his listeners wanted answers for rather than cater to record labels.
"I am not a d**k sucker for record labels," Charlamagne declared. "I have a job to do, and my job is for the people."
He added, "My integrity with the people will always matter more than my integrity with the godd**n record labels."
Charlamagne said he's turned down many artists who wanted to appear on "The Breakfast Club" but requested not to talk about certain things.
"Maybe now is not the time for that artist. If that artist isn't ready to talk about these things, I don't want to have that conversation because it'll make us look crazy -- 'cause certain things you gotta talk about," he explained.
During her "Breakfast Club" appearance on June 13, Tyla briefly addressed her viral curving of Cenat after Charlamagne brought it up.
"Guys, the thing stretched," the "Water" hitmaker said. "Don't put me on the spot, guys. I'll embarrass [myself]."
Later in the interview, Charlamagne asked Tyla to explain what she meant when she said last year that she identifies as a "Coloured" person from South Africa.
Tyla refused to answer and looked for help from her team, who then asked Charlamagne if they could skip it.
The radio host agreed but noted that the moment would be left in the published interview.
Tyla's refusal to respond to the query later sparked backlash against her, with some social media users accusing her of denying her Blackness.
The singer later shut this speculation down in a post on X, formerly Twitter, explaining that while the word is seen as a slur in America, it was viewed by South Africans as part of their culture.
"Never denied my Blackness, [I don't know] where that came from," Tyla wrote. "I'm mixed with Black/Zulu, Irish, Mauritian/Indian, and Coloured. In Southa I would be classified as a Coloured woman and other places I would be classified as a Black woman. Race is classified differently in different parts of the world."
— Tyla (@Tyllaaaaaaa) June 13, 2024
