It’s time we have a chat about the insidious, cancerous cell that’s desecrating the community: the grape drink, the missing side tooth, that one creepy uncle of the community, if you will, The Shade Room.
TSR, as it is often called, is the brainless child of Angelica Nwandu, a failed screenwriter, and a first-generation American-born Nigerian. The Shade Room has filled the soulless void on Instagram that Mediatakeout, also owned by someone who is Nigerian, was too dumb to fill. The distinction that they are Nigerian is not to evoke xenophobia but to highlight the subtle cultural nuances between Nigerian Americans and Black/African Americans who are the descendants of slaves. Many times, Nigerian Americans view Black/African Americans from a lens of superiority, and the fact that two people of Nigerian descent have made millions scraping from the cesspool of the Black collective consciousness is no accident.
Not only has TSR engaged in the most banal parts of Black culture, but it has also exposed children and marginalized groups to shade and harassment. When Zaya Wade came out as trans during her childhood, The Shade Room was quick to post about it, and even has an entire archive of articles about her. While TSR cannot control what commenters say, they are fully aware of the hate and vitriol posts about her garner, but it makes them money, so it’s okay.
The Shade Room bills itself as a news organization, but it is nothing more than a gossip site that posts inflammatory content from a slanted angle. It is also good for mining the content of others as if it were news. A lot of their content is often viral tweets/xeets they post on their page. While many people who were not used to virality and having their content recognized by such a large platform would be excited, many who know better are not. The Shade Room makes millions of dollars a year from posting others’ content and getting traffic, and does not share that revenue with the authors of the content they screenshot, but does often open up the content creators to harassment by an even larger audience.
Recently, The Shaderoom posted a Happy Birthday shout-out to Donald Trump, but did a dirty delete shortly after, probably because, for once, they were on the receiving end of all of the negative comments that they allow.
What exactly do Black people need to be telling a racist hate monger Happy birthday for?
Sure, Black people are not a monolith, and some are dumb Republicans. I mean, hell, there were also Jews who supported Hitler at one point. However, if that man ain’t going on a church fan, then why would the desire to even push or report on his celebration? There were no reports about No Kings protests, or the shitshow parades in Der Führer II’s honor. This is not the first time they have pushed right-wing ideology on their mostly Black audience, an audience that is on the receiving end of most of the harm that right-wingers cause. Back in 2023, Ja’han Jones reported for MSNBC how TSR posted the central bank digital currency conspiracy theory touted by Republican lawmakers, such as Ron DeSantis, which was not only untrue but played “on a common them in right-wing disinformation: that a powerful group of nonwhite non-Americans, including Jewish elites, is seeking to undermine the American way of life.”
They even went as far as quoting Ted Cruz, and lesser-known Republicans Mike Braun of Indiana and Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who have consistently suppressed the Black vote.
It’s Juneteenth, maybe we should free ourselves of the mental slavery that sites like hers cause, and block TSR once and for all. The Shade Room is good for posting viral tweets, but they are never about the negative effects of racism, or misogyny or misogynoir. Their comments section is a battle of the witless and they are absolutely aware that they contribute and spread negativity in the Black community. The Shade Room boasts over 29 million followers; Oprah has 22.5 million; Lil Wayne has 19.3 million. TSR is a behemoth, a goliath; it is so big that it can suck out all the air in the room and deprive people of the necessary oxygen that makes their brains work. The Shade Room has also branched out and targeted teens with The Shade Room Teens, which features posts of adult women in bathing suits, pregnant women and R. Kelly.
Surely, teens should have access to information, but this is not information most people would want targeted to their teenagers. If there is no audience there is no entertainer, but The Shade Room is a nasty bitch indeed, because it uses the access to this audience to peddle rightwing propaganda and contribute to the harm of already marginalized groups.
Angelica Nwandu purports herself as a Christian while hosting a parasitic platform that harms others. The good news is that perhaps with all of the money she makes from being bad at the news, she can at least afford to buy herself a soul.
