Rebecca Black is opening up about a super-sketchy thing that happened in her past!
The infamous Friday singer first went viral with her pre-teen hit more than a decade ago. And in recent years, in addition to working through her singing career as a young adult, she’s also been looking back on viral fame.
On Tuesday, she took to TikTok to recount one particularly embarrassing episode from her past. The 25-year-old star set her video to the soundtrack of Nicki Minaj‘s song Super Freaky Girl, and sung along with the rhythm of the beat. In her sing-song story, Black recounted how she was 14 years old in about 2011 when she and her mother, Georgina Marquez Kelly, were contacted by a “distant relative” living in Mexico.
Black started off the story:
“One thing about me is my mom is a Mexican immigrant, and when I was 14 years old she got hit up by a distant family relative who told her there was a Rebecca Black fan club in this small town in Mexico, and they also wanted to give me the keys to the city.”
Without considering that this “Rebecca Black Fan Club” might not be what it seemed, the singer recalled how she and her mother jumped onto a plane for Mexico.
Once they got to the town, they showed up to what they thought was going to be a meet-and-greet. However, they were taken into a room with “an audience of about 20 people,” all wearing matching t-shirts. They also went into another room, where dozens of men in suits were standing.
Rebecca recalled:
“They take us to some big fancy house, and then they usher us into a room full of men in suits. I meet them all. They sit me and my mom in front of the step-and-repeat with a table and microphones. It kind of looks like a press conference, and my mom is next to me acting as my translator.”
People suddenly started asking Rebecca questions about politics and voting. Some people in the room asked questions about Enrique Peña Nieto, who was vying at the time to become Mexico’s next President. With her mom acting as translator, the teenager tried to play it cool:
“People in the crowd start asking me questions, like, ‘How do you like Mexico?’ and ‘How do you feel about voting rights?’ and ‘How do you feel about the presidential candidate of Mexico?’ at the time. So, I’m like, ‘Yeah, great. He’s great. Voting’s great. I’m sure it’ll all be great,’ not really knowing what I’m talking about.”
OMG!
It was only after boarding her flight back to the United States that Black realized she may have been duped. She began thinking about how she never received the keys to any city, like she was initially promised.
She also explained how Twitter headlines started to tip her off that something was amiss:
“I’m scrolling on Twitter before the flight takes off, and I start seeing headlines about me and how I have endorsed the presidential candidate of Mexico at the time. And then I realize that my entire family was just scammed by this distant relative who worked for his presidential campaign into endorsing the presidential candidate of Mexico at the time. And the world thinks I’ve done it as a 14-year-old when I’ve never heard of this man in my life.”
Oh noooooo!
Watch her whole TikTok reveal (below):
@msrebeccablack #onethingaboutme ????
Not long after Black’s unfortunate encounter, Nieto won his election, and served as Mexico’s 64th president through November 2018. He endured low approval ratings during his time in office, though, and was accused by the Mexican Attorney General’s Office of allegedly mishandling political contributions. He was even accused at one point of plagiarizing his law school thesis! So this was maybe not the best look for Black to wade into way back when.
Related: Rebecca Black Reveals She Identifies As Queer!
Of course, she was just 14 at the time, so there’s no question she was put into a very uncomfortable situation.
Still, what an awkward event!
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