What you sing about someone's hair could cost you

Article and photo from Madame Noire

Not only should artists watch what they say, they better watch what they sing. Sony Music’s Brazilian branch is paying out $1.2 million ($656,000 in American dollars) in retroactive compensation for a song Brazilian singer, comedian, and politician Francisco Everardo Oliveira Silva released in 1997. The song, “Veja os Cabelos Dela” (Look at Her Hair) has been deemed racist for it’s lyrics which call a black woman a “stinking beast” and liken her hair to “a scouring pad for pots and pans.”

part of the lyrics

Veja veja veja veja veja os cabelos dela (4x)

(Look look look look look at her hair (4x)

Parece bom-bril*, de ariá panela

(It looks like a scouring pad for pots and pans)

Parece bom-bril, de ariá panela

(It looks like a scouring pad for pots and pans)

Read the story