Leona Lewis Recounts Racist Confrontation With White Shop Owner in London

Leona Lewis is recalling a particular distributing confrontation she once had with a white shop owner in London.

The 35-year-old singer opened up to fans about the moment, in light of the Black Lives Matter movement, revealing that the owner quickly started to hover over her and her father while they were browsing around the store.

“Eventually, she [the shop owner] came up to my dad and I and said, ‘You need to put that stuff down, you’re not allowed to touch it.’ Every other person was picking stuff up, looking at it. I immediately knew what was happening and I asked her, ‘Why? Everyone else is picking stuff up. Why do we have to put stuff down? We’re just looking at it, I’m probably going to buy it.’”

Leona continues, saying that their encounter became so confrontational that the owner threatened to call police and that other customers left the shop because it was so uncomfortable.

“It sparked a rage in me. I started saying, ‘No,I’m not going to put it down, I’m going to buy it. Why are you targeting us?’ [By now it was just] me, this woman, and my dad in the store. And she became really defensive, really agitated, and ran behind the counter. She said she was going to call the police on us if we didn’t leave the store now.’

Listen to Leona‘s full video below and check out this full list of resources to see how you can contribute to the Black Lives Matter movement.