Filipino-Canadian actress Shay Mitchell is currently facing backlash on social media after a scene from her reality TV show Thirst was posted on TikTok. In the video, the actress claimed that her mom was Spanish. “You know what my background is? My dad’s Irish, my mom’s Spanish,” she said.
Netizens were dismayed, as many recall that Shay’s mother is actually a full-blooded Filipina from Pampanga, making Shay half-Filipino. Additionally, Pinay Broadway star Lea Salonga is her mom’s first cousin, making her Shay’s aunt. This led many to believe that Shay might be trying to hide her Filipino heritage.
READ: Netizens React to Shay Mitchell Seemingly Denying Her Filipino Heritage
Users of X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram were quick to call out the Pretty Little Liars actress.
“Shay Mitchell saying her mother is Spanish and not Filipino is so disrespectful and icky,” tweeted one user.
“Shay Mitchell is such a loser for saying she’s ‘half Spanish’ knowing her mama is Filipino,” quipped another.
“Shay Mitchell doing an interview calling herself Spanish when I distinctly remember her doing an interview a while back about accepting her Filipino roots and culture is so incredibly sad and disappointing.”
A month ago, Shay Mitchell did an interview on YouTube for a series called Last Meals, hosted by chef and content creator Josh Scherer of Mythical Kitchen. There, she was asked about her experience growing up Filipino and how she tried to hide her heritage by dyeing her hair lighter, avoiding getting too tanned, and wearing colored contacts.
“I’d grown up in a predominantly Caucasian, you know, neighborhood. All my friends were blonde-haired [and] blue-eyed, and I was literally the token brunette who was a little bit more tanned. And you just see it in all my high school photos. It was like me and then all of my blondies,” she began. “I think at that age I was just trying to fit in as we all do, you know, in high school. And for me, it was just trying to fit in in any way I could. So, how do you fit in physically? Which is kind of the easiest because I felt like, personality-wise, I’m like everybody else,” she continued.
This is not the first time Shay has talked about her struggles accepting her Filipino heritage. This theme recurs in many of her interviews. In a 2013 interview with Elle Canada, she said, “When I was in high school, I was so uncomfortable with myself…All my friends were blond and blue-eyed. My mom is Filipino—but my friends’ nannies were Filipino.”
In a YouTube video on PopSugar’s Pretty Unfiltered, she also talked about being bullied for her heritage in high school but ended on a more positive note, saying if she could give her 16-year-old self advice, it would be to “celebrate who you are because there’s only one version of you and that’s kind of an incredible thing.”
As of writing, Shay has not addressed any of the comments.
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