Beyoncé created history earlier this week by becoming the first
ever black woman to wear Tiffany Diamond. The company unveiled its latest campaign, “About Love”, featuring Beyoncé and her husband Jay-Z, in which the singer can be seen wearing Tiffany’s famous Yellow Diamond necklace. The campaign did not go down too well with some, who criticised Beyoncé for wearing the piece, thanks to its problematic history.
In an Instagram post promoting the campaign, Beyoncé can be seen wearing a figure-hugging black dress, drawing all attention to the 128.54-carat rock around her neck. Soon, people took to social media to criticise the singer for wearing the jewel that they described as “blood diamond.”
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The diamond was discovered in the Kimberley diamond mines in South Africa in 1877 under British colonial rule. Black migrant workers were allegedly subjected to horrific working conditions at the time and sometimes did not get paid for their work.
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According to the UN, blood diamonds as those that originate from areas “controlled by forces or factions opposed to legitimate and internationally recognised governments, and are used to fund military action in opposition to those governments.”
Slamming the singer, one person wrote on Twitter, “Beyoncé doing Tiffany’s campaign wearing a blood diamond doesn’t sit well for her brand ESPECIALLY given her African influenced work in the past few years.”
Another said, “I can’t be fascinated and just look past the inherent history of a 150-year-old blood diamond just because it’s on Beyoncé lol.”
However, some came out in support of Beyonce, saying that she was being unfairly targeted by critics. They pointed out that Lady Gaga previously wore the diamond to the 2019 Oscars and was not subjected to criticism.
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Beyonce also found a supporter in her mother, Tina Knowles, who took to Instagram to defend her daughter
“How many of you socially conscious activist own diamonds ? I thought so ! Well guess what did you go to try to check to see where the diamond came from? Probably not [sic]!” she wrote.
“So when you guys get engaged you won’t have a diamond you gonna put on a sterling silver band And you better check out where it came from and the origin of where came from and why you add it check out the calls for the Leather that you weird because they made it came from another country to to ban and not buy diamonds right because your righteous [sic] !!”
