Maya Jama beams with pride while sporting a Somalia football shirt to mark the country’s Independence Day… after revealing she was bullied and forced to lie about her heritage
- Back in 2012, Maya explained: ‘There were these boys and they were so horrible to me when they found out that I was Somali’
- July 1 celebrates the unification of the Trust Territory of Somalia and the State of Somaliland on July 1, 1960, which formed the Somali Republic
Maya Jama, who is of Somali and Swedish heritage, marked Somalia Independence Day on Wednesday with a patriotic social media post.
The TV host, 25, posed up a storm while sporting a Somalia football shirt to mark July 1, which celebrates the unification of the Trust Territory of Somalia and the State of Somaliland on July 1, 1960, which formed the Somali Republic.
Her post comes two years after Maya discussed experiencing ‘horrible’ experiences with racial bullying in school and how her peers ‘took the p**s out of her heritage’.
An honour: Maya Jama, who is of Somali and Swedish heritage, marked Somalia Independence Day on Wednesday with a patriotic social media post
Maya was beaming in the snap as she proudly celebrated her country’s independence having previously opened up about her heritage.
Back in 2012, Maya explained: ‘There were these boys and they were so horrible to me when they found out that I was Somali.’
Revealing she even used to lie about her background to avoid cruel comments, she went on: ‘When they asked me where I’m from I used to be like ‘yeah I’m Spanish and Jamaican’ or something like that.
‘And just made a whole completely new background because I didn’t want people to judge me from where I was from.
Larking around: The TV host, 25, posed up a storm while sporting a Somalia football shirt to mark July 1, which celebrates the unification of the Trust Territory of Somalia and the State of Somaliland on July 1, 1960, which formed the Somali Republic
‘So I get it. It’s not the same thing, but I understand the feeling of people being rude and taking the p*** out of where you are from, or your race or skin colour. When it’s something you can’t change.’
She revealed her difficult past while speaking out about controversial historic tweets, in which she spoke of ‘dark-skinned b******’ back in 2012.
At the time, Maya admitted she was ‘ignorant’ when she posted the message back in 2012 – and discussed her own ‘horrible’ experiences with racial bullying in school.
Proud: Her post comes two years after Maya discussed experiencing ‘horrible’ experiences with racial bullying in school and how her peers ‘took the p**s out of her heritage’
She said she understood the feeling of people ‘taking the p***’ of your heritage, and apologised again for ‘not understanding the seriousness’ of her joke.
Maya caused outrage two years ago when one of her Tweets from 2012 was unearthed, reading: ‘Dark skin b***** shaving their head expecting to look like Amber Rose, when really they end up looking like Micheal Jordan.’ Looooooooool.’
Speaking about the controversy on the podcast, Maya said that she understood where her offended followers were coming from, as she was subject to racist bullying in her youth.
Old wounds: Back in 2012, Maya explained: ‘There were these boys and they were so horrible to me when they found out that I was Somali’
‘I was definitely an ignorant person that was trying to make people laugh and not understanding the seriousness of a joke like that,’ she said.
‘I have wanted to speak about this as a human and not just some notes on Twitter or some statement or apology.
‘I have wanted to have my voice on something where I can speak because where something like this does happen, if you release something like that, people will just pick it apart either way. But if you get a chance to speak as a person and you can hear where I came from.’