Little Mix singer Leigh-Anne Pinnock has spoken out after being mistakenly referred to as bandmate Jade Thirlwall on the cover of the Metro newspaper.
Tuesday’s edition of the paper featured a story about Leigh-Anne and Perrie Edwards’ recent pregnancy announcements on its front page, but mislabelled the former as Jade.
Sharing a photo of the front page, Leigh-Anne questioned why it should be the case that “two women of colour are always mistaken for each other”.
Referring to her new documentary about racism within the music industry, Leigh-Anne tweeted: “10 years [into our career] and still this is happening. This is the type of shit Jade and I have had to deal with for 10 years and this is another reason as to why I was fuelled to make my doc.”
HuffPost UK has contacted Metro for comment.
Last year, Jade voiced her frustration after a story about the racism she experienced as a child on MSN’s website was illustrated with a photo of Leigh-Anne, reportedly due to a artificial intelligence error.
She wrote on Instagram at the time: “@MSN If you’re going to copy and paste articles from other accurate media outlets, you might want to make sure you’re using an image of the correct mixed race member of the group.
“This shit happens to @leighannepinnock and I ALL THE TIME that it’s become a running joke. It offends me that you couldn’t differentiate the two women of colour out of four members of a group … DO BETTER!”
Earlier this week, ahead of the release of her new documentary, Leigh-Anne called for change within the music industry with regard to diversity and representation.
“When I walk into work and I see a predominantly white room, I’m like, ‘But why?’. It doesn’t need to be like this. There are Black people that can do these jobs and should be having these opportunities as well.
“For me, diversity is just so important and I want my children to be able to watch TV and see themselves. And at the minute it’s not good enough.”
Little Mix are expected to be in attendance at the Brit Awards on Tuesday night, which will be their first public appearance since Leigh-Anne and Perrie’s pregnancy announcements.
The group is currently in the running for Best British Group, and would be the first all-female band in history to achieve the accolade if they end up taking the award home.