Dash admitted that she was “the angry, conservative, Black woman” during her three-year run at Fox News and claimed, “Things that I did say, that I should not have said them the way I said them. They were very arrogant and prideful and angry.” However, she assured the Daily Mail that is not the person she is now.
“Stacey’s someone who has compassion, empathy.… If anyone has ever felt that way about me, like I’ve judged, that I apologize for because that’s not who I am,” she said.
Dash’s apology was a little too late for some people. Many people on social media were unwilling to brush aside the unforgettable comments she made in the past.
Dash appeared on Fox News from 2014 to 2017, during which time she made a few particularly offensive claims regarding marginalized communities. However, the actor caused an upset with her political rhetoric long before Trump took office. See a few of her most controversial moments below.
2012
The Clueless star first ruffled feathers when she appeared in a photo campaigning for Senator Mitt Romney, who was running against President Barack Obama in 2012. Dash appeared posing in front of an American flag while wearing a red bathing suit. The message on the photo read: “Vote for Romney. The only choice for your future.”
Dash shared the image on social media and was met with immediate backlash.
2013
Dash raised eyebrows when she associated Jay-Z and Beyoncé with Cuba’s Communist regime after the hip-hop couple traveled to the country for their anniversary in April 2013.
“Do you care that The Jay Z"s have taken the capital you have given them and funded a communist oppressive regime?” Dash tweeted.
2015
Dash offended women all across the nation when she seemed to denounce the fight for equal pay. Her comment came following the 2015 Oscars, during which Patricia Arquette rallied for wage equality and equal rights for women while accepting the award for best supporting actress. Dash, speaking in an interview with Meredith Vieira, claimed she didn’t want to be a “victim” when asked her thoughts about closing the pay gap and suggested that women should work harder.
Not long after that interview, Dash appeared on her own Fox News show, Outnumbered, and suggested that women were to blame for their pay discrepancies because they accepted jobs that weren’t in line with their value.
“Be a better negotiator,” she said. “Know your value.”
She added: “There needs to be a demand for more aspirational leading female roles. This being said, there also needs to be an understanding of the difference between worth and value. You know, if you become valuable, if you know what your value is, then you’re worth more. So that’s what you have to figure out.
Later in December 2015, Dash came under fire for making anti-Obama comments during her show and using profanity on-air, which landed her a two-week suspension.
Dash rebuked a speech the president made about international and domestic warfare and claimed Obama “didn’t give a s**t” about terrorism. Following her suspension, Dash tweeted, “Consequences. Some of us have to pay them. Gladly.”
2016
Black Americans were particularly outraged with Dash after she appeared on Fox & Friends and suggested that Black History Month should be canceled.
“Either we want to have segregation or integration. And if we don’t want segregation, then we need to get rid of channels like BET and the BET Awards and the [NAACP] Image Awards, where you’re only awarded if you’re Black. If it were the other way around, we would be up in arms. It’s a double standard,” she said, adding, “There shouldn’t be a Black History Month. We’re Americans. Period.”
When Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy pushed her further on the issue by asking if she meant Black History month shouldn’t be recognized because there is no Caucasian History Month, Dash responded, “Exactly.”
Later in 2016, Dash made more cringeworthy comments on the air—this time directed at the LGBTQ+ community.
Dash appeared on Entertainment Tonight and participated in a discussion about trans people’s rights to use bathrooms of their choice. Dash claimed that she “shouldn’t have to suffer” because trans folks “can’t decide what you want to be that day?”
Dash went on to say that trans people should “go to the bushes” to use the bathroom when they’re out in public.
“I don’t know what to tell you, but I’m not gonna put my child’s life at risk because you want to change a law. So that you can be comfortable with your beliefs—which means I have to change my beliefs and my rights? No,” Dash continued.
