Jada Pinkett Smith's Mom Didn't Hold Back With Olivia Jade On Red Table Talk
In early 2019, news of the college admissions scandal broke, and it quickly became one of the most-talked-about stories in America. Authorities first charged at least 50 people for their alleged involvement in a scam in which wealthy parents facilitated bribes to get their kids into prestigious colleges, according to NPR. If you recall, Lori Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, pled guilty to paying $500,000 to get their two daughters, Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose Giannulli, into the University of Southern California. The parents also copped to falsifying information on their daughters' applications, per The Washington Post.
Olivia had remained relatively quiet on the subject since the scandal broke and didn't release a statement when her parents went to prison in fall 2020. After the admissions scandal broke, she lost sponsors and endorsement deals, dropped out of school, and mostly disappeared from public view. That said, On Dec. 8, 2020, she decided to break her silence and kick off a possible redemption tour with an interview on Facebook Watch's Red Table Talk, the series hosted by Jada Pinkett Smith, her mother, Adrienne Banfield-Norris, and her daughter, Willow Smith.
The three women were seemingly empathetic during their interview with Olivia, but that wasn't necessarily the case when they discussed the reasoning behind having her on in the first place. In fact, Banfield-Norris had some pointed criticism for the YouTuber.
Jada Pinkett Smith's mom called out Olivia Jade
At the beginning of the Red Table Talk episode on Dec. 8, 2020, before Olivia Jade Giannulli appeared, the hosts had a candid conversation about why the influencer was there in the first place. They revealed she had reached out to the show, and Adrienne Banfield-Norris admitted she fought "tooth and nail" against Olivia Jade being a guest. "I just found it really ironic that she chose three Black women to reach out to for her redemption story. I feel like here we are, a White woman coming to Black women for support when we don't get the same from them. It's bothersome to me on so many levels," Banfield-Norris said. "Her being here is the epitome of White privilege to me."
"This is a practice of compassion," countered Jada Pinkett Smith, knowing that not all the show's fans will agree with her opinion. "To me, this young girl is reaping the repercussions of the actions of her parents."
Giannulli addressed the topic of her privilege later in the show, admitting, "We did all of this and we're so ignorant, and I feel like a huge part of privilege is not knowing you have privilege. And so when it was happening, it didn't feel wrong. It didn't feel like, that's not fair, a lot of people don't have that." She continued, "That's embarrassing within itself that I walked around my whole 20 years of life not realizing, like you have insane privilege. You're like the poster child of white privilege and you had no idea."