Sam Smith Divides Opinion With Tweets About Racism, With Some Accusing Him Of 'Whitesplaining'

Sam Smith Divides Opinion With 'Racism' Tweets
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Sam Smith has divided opinion with a string of tweets about his friend being the victim of racist abuse.

The Grammy-winning singer shared a series of messages with his Twitter followers in the early hours of Wednesday (20 January) morning, following a night out in London, revealing the racist incident had left him “speechless”.

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Sam Smith

However, his posts were met with a lukewarm response, after he admitted he was “shocked” to see that racism is still very much alive in modern Britain.

Some Twitter users have now criticised Sam’s prior ignorance, accusing him of “whitesplaining”, while others have called him “patronising” and “privileged”.

However, others have defended Sam amid the heavy criticism, insisting that he had good intentions, and shouldn’t be ridiculed for trying to draw attention to an important cause.

Sam was recently nominated for his first Academy Award, for his track ‘Writing’s On The Wall’, taken from the soundtrack to the last ‘James Bond’ film, ‘Spectre’.

He’s also been nominated for Best British Video at the Brit Awards, alongside fellow nominees Little Mix, One Direction and Adele.

Sam Smith's Biggest Achievements
Sam Smith's biggest achievements (01 of18)
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Taking home three Brit Awards for Critics Choice in 2014 and British Breakthrough Act and Global Success in 2015. (credit:David M. Benett via Getty Images)
Sam Smith's biggest achievements (02 of18)
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Won four Grammys in 2015 including Best New Artist, "Stay with Me" for Record of the Year and Song of the Year, and In the Lonely Hour for Best Pop Vocal Album. (credit:Jason LaVeris via Getty Images)
Sam Smith's biggest achievements (03 of18)
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Topped the 2014 BBC Sound Of poll, beating off competition from Ella Eyre and George Ezra. (credit:Michael Tran via Getty Images)
Sam Smith's biggest achievements (04 of18)
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Performed a duet of ‘Stay With Me’ with Mary J. Blige. (credit:Kevin Winter via Getty Images)
Sam Smith's biggest achievements (05 of18)
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Recorded a version of ‘Lay Me Down’ with John Legend, which went on to top the charts. (credit:Comic Relief/AP)
Sam Smith's biggest achievements (06 of18)
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Amassed an army of celebrity fans including Beyonce, Kim Kardashian, Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus. (credit:Instagram)
Sam Smith's biggest achievements (07 of18)
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Sold out New York’s Madison Square Garden. (credit:Rob Loud via Getty Images)
Sam Smith's biggest achievements (08 of18)
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Transformed his relationship with food to become just four pounds away from his goal weight. (credit:Instagram)
Sam Smith's biggest achievements (09 of18)
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Scored the fastest selling album of 2014. (credit:David M. Benett via Getty Images)
Sam Smith's biggest achievements (10 of18)
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Became the only artist to sell 1 million albums in UK and US in 2014. (credit:SAV via Getty Images)
Sam Smith's biggest achievements (11 of18)
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Gained 2.85 million followers on Twitter and 3.8 million Instagram fans. (credit:Simon James via Getty Images)
Sam Smith's biggest achievements (12 of18)
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Set a US sales record after debut album, ‘In the Lonely Hour’, the most sold in the first week by a UK male artist's debut album, shifting 166,000 copies. (credit:Gareth Cattermole via Getty Images)
Sam Smith's biggest achievements (13 of18)
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Received the honour of being invited to perform at the Grammys. (credit:Jon Kopaloff via Getty Images)
Sam Smith's biggest achievements (14 of18)
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His album ‘In The Lonely Hour’ became the second best-selling on 2014, just behind Ed Sheeran’s ‘X’. (credit:Christopher Polk via Getty Images)
Sam Smith's biggest achievements (15 of18)
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Performed on a sell-out tour in spring 2014, before announcing a world arena tour for this year. (credit:Sven Hoppe/DPA)
Sam Smith's biggest achievements (16 of18)
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Picked up two Ivor Novello nominations. (credit:Yui Mok/PA Wire)
Sam Smith's biggest achievements (17 of18)
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Won three Billboard Music Awards for Top New Artist, Top Male Artist and Top Radio Songs Artist in 2015. (credit:Lionel Hahn/ABACA USA)
Sam Smith's biggest achievements (18 of18)
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Got into his first Twitter spat after wading into the Louis Tomlinson/Naughty Boy row. (credit:Daniel DeSlover/Zuma Press)