Last week, we covered the controversy with Univision host Rodner Figueroa saying that Michelle Obama “looks like a character from Planet of the Apes.” He was fired from Univision immediately, but he’s issued a lengthy apology and explanation, trying to say that he didn’t mean it in any kind of racist way. Eh. Anyway, the ladies of The View discussed the controversy on yesterday’s episode with guest host Raven Symone. Raven has some interesting ideas about race, and she openly questioned whether Figueroa’s comment was really “racist-like.” Rosie Perez shut it down though.

Whoopi Goldberg introduced the topic to the audience and Rosie Perez kicked off the discussion by stating that his comment (which ultimately cost him his job) was racist.

“A lot of Latin people recognize the fact that we do have African blood in us. A lot of them do not want to recognize that fact, and that’s where this stems from. There is a secret in the Latin community, specifically the Caribbean, South American, Central American, Latin community, that they are very racist,” Perez began. “They never want to be in the same group as black people. And it’s sad. It’s very, very sad. And he did say Michelle Obama looks like a cast member of the Planet of the Apes.”

That’s when Raven chimed in and asked, “Was he saying it racist-like? Because he said that he voted for her later and I don’t think he was saying it racist.”

Perez wasn’t having it.

“That’s disrespect. I would like to tell you that it is racist, period. This is a problem in the Latin community, that we do not talk about that. We do not address, and it is real and it was revealed by this man’s statement. And you do not disrespect the first lady of our country.”

Raven continued, “Michelle, don’t fire me for this right now, but some people look like animals. Is that true?…I look like a bird. Can I be mad if somebody calls me Tucan Sam?”

[From E! News]

I think Raven is conflating the “some people do look like animals” thing with the completely racist history of comparing black people to animals, specifically monkeys, apes and gorillas. Some people look horses, some people look like cats, some people look like squirrels, and none of that has anything to do with the centuries of colonial history and slave history of treating dark-skinned people like animals. Raven got on Twitter and seemingly addressed the backlash to her comments:

Some comments are rude, some are disrespectful, and some are racist. Try to not exchange one for the other. My opinion/comments aren’t based off race, that doesn’t mean i’m trying to be a different race all together. I love OUR history, family…. We have Irish Culture, African Culture, Asian Culture, Indian Culture Many more running through the veins of AMERICA! Come on yung peeps

[From Raven’s Twitter]

Again, she’s conflating two separate things. No one is debating the fact that most Americans are racial mutts with lots of different ethnicities swimming around our DNA. But just because some random white dude happens to have 10% African DNA, doesn’t mean that said white dude gets to compare a black person to an ape. Same if the guy is Latino, or Asian or whatever. Just stop comparing black people to apes. Period. The end.

Photos courtesy of WENN.