The ugliness of racism has been in the news more and more over the past year, and recently, it was the Royal Family who had to contend with it. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, as most people are by now aware, made allegations that one reason they left Britain was because of racism by Queen Elizabeth. The world since then has been grappling with the charge, including musical artist and producer Darrell Kelley, who listened carefully to the interview but does not believe the couple’s accusation. Darrell, who has created hits like “The Coronavirus” and “Vote Him Out,” believed the allegations were deeply unfair and created the new song “Why Lie on the Queen” to stand up for the monarch.
At the center of the controversy is the assertion that the Queen had concerns about how dark Archie’s skin would be. Darrell was skeptical that she ever said anything like this.
“It didn’t mesh with how she has presented herself over the years,” he says, shaking his head. “It is a very serious accusation, and I am a firm believer that if you’re going to say something like this about the Queen, or really, about anyone, you should back it up with hardcore evidence. Otherwise, you’re really attacking the person’s character, and that’s not fair at all. I was so disturbed by the interview that I poured them into my new song.”
Darrell has formed his opinion of the Royal Family over the years that he has watched them. “I’ve always been interested in them,” he says, “and I know that like anyone else who is famous, they have a good PR department. That’s true, but still, I have seen the Queen’s treatment of people of color. It’s been excellent. It’s why I wrote one of the lines of my song: ‘My heart knows you’re not a racist,’” he says. “How could she be? Look at who she has invited to Windsor and Buckingham Palace: Michael Jackson. James Brown. The Obamas. She would never have had dinner with them if she were a racist. I just can’t see it happening.”
Darrell, an African American, has had his own encounters with racists, and he can’t imagine Queen Elizabeth being anything like them. “Racists do not sit down with those people they are prejudiced against,” he states. “They won’t invite you to be a guest or talk to you. Queen Elizabeth is the opposite of this. She is the epitome of grace and beauty, and I just find it impossible to believe she would have said anything racist about Meghan and Harry’s baby. If there is proof of it, let me see it. I go by what I see, not by what people say. It’s the fairest way to treat a person.”
Darrell’s song expresses the singer’s dislike of hearing allegations that are not backed up with evidence. “I am always open to hearing things about people that I might not like,” Darrell says. “In this case, though, in order to believe that the Queen made such crass comments about Archie’s skin color, I need more than an alleged conversation. I need proof. Someone needs to show me the hard-core evidence that she said this, and then I will believe it.”
The couple, as most people know, moved to America to escape the paparazzi in England, but Darrell questions this in his song, “We’ve got paparazzi here, too, and people in America are just as nosy here as they are there,” Darrell says. “If they really wanted their privacy, getting on Oprah in front of millions of people was a strange way to achieve it. It doesn’t add up to me, to be honest.”
Darrell believes his song can inspire people to work on a big problem in America and in other countries: role models or celebrities being believed simply because they are famous. “Instead, I want all of us to think for ourselves. Do your own due diligence and your own studies so that you can clearly see people and world leaders and have your own views on them. If you do, there will be less gossip, and you’ll be standing up as a good person who has excellent character. You’ll be a person of love, acceptance, unity, and love.”
Darrell is thoughtful as he thinks about the song’s message. “It definitely gets out the idea that abuse should not be allowed, especially when there’s no proof of it. We have to stand up for each other. The world is so divided, and we keep attacking each other for no reason. We go to war every day, but we don’t know why.”
Darrell says that he will continue to make songs that address urgent issues in American and around the world. “I am a very idealistic man and want to use the platform I have to help other people,” he says. “Through my music, I want to help lead society in a more positive direction.”
0
0
