Actress Lisa Raye slammed Instagram influencer Ari Fletcher during a discussion about rappers’ baby mothers gaining fame in a recent interview.
On an episode of the podcast, It’s Tricky with Raquel Harper, Raye was asked about her thoughts on the current wave of rappers’ baby mothers becoming rich and famous influencers.
“Here’s the thing: if that’s their way of collecting a check and they want to be bothered with something that they didn’t want to be bothered with in the beginning for 18 years, or the rest of their life, then have at it, cause that’s exactly what they’re doing,” she responded in the interview. “That’s their meal ticket now.”
Then, host Raquel Harper followed up her question by asking The Player’s Club actress how she felt about social media influencer and rapper Moneybagg Yo’s girlfriend, Ari Fletcher.
“I ain’t even know all of that either. I don’t even keep up because…seriously, I want to speak and be around folks that’s doing something and not just collecting a bag because ‘it’s about the money’…All money ain’t good money, and we heard that before. You need to make the money, don’t let the money make you.”
When speaking of collecting bags, Raye mentioned that the pay rates offered to her as a seasoned Black actress could’ve been better. The Chicago-native also revealed that she asked herself if she should continue since the trend in acting seemed to be influence over talent.
“I was kind of depressed a couple of years ago, and I was thinking, ‘Do I still wanna be in the business? I’m tired of the hustle and bustle [and] running around. I’m tired of…trying to find a check. I’m just tired. And then the pay. You’re still running around, and they’re like, ‘If you don’t do it, we’ll get this social media influencer over here, or we’ll get this [Instagram-famous] girl,’ and it’s like, but they’re not an actress.”
The 54-year-old beauty also mentioned her ongoing rocky relationship with her half-sister and fellow Chicago native, Da Brat. The rapper, born Shawntae Harris, was expecting a baby with hair care mogul Jesseca Dupart on the internet. Da Brat and Dupart revealed the news via Instagram on Monday, Jan. 31.
“I found out through social media,” Raye said. “This takes me back because I’m sure that you have heard of the last encounter that we had that went viral.”
The two had a public spat after Da Brat surprised her for her birthday on an episode of FOX’s Cocktails With Queens in September 2020. They weren’t speaking at the time after Raye discovered that the rapper went public with her relationship with Dupart.
The following year, on Sept. 3, 2021, Da Brat uploaded a video of her proposal to her beauty entrepreneur girlfriend on Instagram.
“…There was a whole life that was going on, on social media that I really didn’t know [anything] about…I just felt slighted,” the actress told Harper. “So when I saw her, it was like ‘Oh you got time today’….and, what I thought was anger, was really hurt and I had to process that…Since then, we talked about it. I was like, yo, I know you grown, but dang, I wanna marvel in your happiness.”
In regards to finding out about Da Brat’s baby announcement, Raye added that she was just a phone call away.
“She [is] in Atlanta, and I’m in California, you know. I’m a phone call away, so yes…I do feel a certain kind of way about it.”
Despite her frustration, she said she’s not perfect and had a past that she claimed many people weren’t aware of.
“I’ve been to jail,” she started before Harper interrupted her asking, “Jail for what?” She laughed, then responded, “I done shot somebody, I done pistol-whipped folks, I done had fights. I’m not the average pretty girl that’s afraid to break a fingernail.”
Raye attributed her maturity to learning from those volatile experiences she had earlier in life. She’s not embarrassed either.
“It’s always been through the years people saying that I’m so real, I’m so down to earth, but I come with experience,” she said. “For me to be the age that I am, I have done an awful lot…things that I could keep in the closet, but for what? I’m not embarrassed about it because it helped me become who I am now.”
