Not too much on Angela Simmons
The second installment of 'can the corny allegations be substantiated?'
I stopped watching the BET Awards years ago, and while I've been tempted to watch recently, scrolling through Twitter usually provides a solid synopsis of the show. As awards shows go, the red carpet and performances garner the most clicks online. This year’s contender for the worst dress is my good sis Angela Simmons, who has returned to our attention spans since going public with her boyfriend, rapper Yo Gotti. A casualty in the Black version of the Millennial versus Gen Z culture war, her current branding is on awkward footing.
Before I began writing, I googled Angela Simmons, specifically her age. I suspected she had to be in her thirties since my first introduction to Rev Run’s daughter, but seeing the number 36 on my laptop screen was still surprising. In 2005, MTV premiered the American reality TV series, Run's House. The show lasted 6 seasons and centered around Rev Run, plus his wife and children. In the '80s and '90s, Rev Run was a part of the Hip Hop group Run DMC, and in 2005 was mostly retired living in a wealthy New Jersey suburb with his family. The show was ethical reality TV at its best. Not relying on heavily contrived drama, while also being wholesomely entertaining. Although Rev Run is a legacy Hip Hop act, his children were the stars of the show.
Angela is the second oldest daughter of Rev Run and should be considered in the leagues of the post-modern Black "It Girl" that we see now. Arguably, a lot more entrepreneurial than the current cohort. Entrepreneurial in the sense, her earlier business pursuits aligned heavily with her interests, rather than just straight money grabs. She and her sister Vanessa Simmons started the iconic 2000s shoe brand called Pastries. The brand's vibe is this Pinterest board, kinda. I could never afford a pair, but like most Black girls at the time, it was at the top of my wishlist. A media girly, she founded RunDown, a magazine catered to Black teenagers. The cover stars were very few, with Angela gracing the front page mostly. Additionally, she played the love interest in the "Shortie Like Mine" music video. A 2006 track from rapper Bow Wow.
For the 2024 BET Awards, she "donned a custom emerald green embellished dress by Casze Atelier." Furthermore, Angela accessorized the dress with a embellished gun-shaped purse, accompanied by stick up poses on the red carpet. After an immediate roast on Black Twitter, she apologized for the outfit a day later. The styling was in poor taste, considering the father of Simmons' son was fatally shot in 2018. Yo Gotti's Memphis restaurant experienced a deadly shooting in 2023.
"I've obviously been through a lot in my personal life when it comes to gun violence, and it's very personal to me. But I just liked the bag and thought it was cool and thought it was a fashion moment, and that was it. I didn't have any intentions of ruffling anyone's feathers.”
Online, Angela's awkward reintroduction into Black media has been met with a highly judgemental audience. This week's gaffe was her Oreo bathtub photoshoot for her vegan pastry brand. Her unchoreographed dance at Gotti's 2023 Atlanta show was the another big shaming moment. While I found her stage presence to be cute and awkward, it was ridiculed endlessly.
I watched some commentary recently from a very funny Black woman on the internet. Her video essay is about JoJo Siwa's cringe personality, and why that's okay. Reflecting on Angela Simmons' brand image, the critics seem further from fair. "Mean girl" behavior distorted as constructive criticism, and image tips from amaetur media gurus. Serena Williams is one of its latest culprits. For much of this year, her TikTok comments were filled with opinions on how she should and shouldn't look. Her styling and makeup missteps were blamed solely on her team(and Serena), despite the media's long history of diminishing Serena Williams' beauty.
As I dive back into culture writing, these themes sit with me. I write this defense of Angela Simmons after my Twitter scroll, in which I bookmarked a lot of Jonathan Majors, Meagan Goode, and Michael Ealy memes. Where is the line between normal pop culture consumption, and the bullies we portray online?
