Raven-Symone Explains Controversial 'I'm Not African American' Comments

In a recent episode of Tea Time With Raven and Miranda -- a podcast she hosts with wife, Miranda Maday -- the 38-year-old actress claimed her previous statement of saying she's "an American, I’m not an African American" was taken out of context.

The comments recently resurfaced when Bill Maher brought up the interview in a segment on Real Time With Bill Maher, after he brought up Idris Elba saying people "are obsessed with race." Maher then used Raven's quote from the Oprah interview on his talk show.

On a podcast episode titled "We Need to Talk...", the That's So Raven star said the comment "has haunted" her since 2014.

The Disney Channel actress then played the moment on her podcast, as Oprah asked her "So you don’t want to be labeled gay?"

Shaking her head, Raven replied, "I don't want to be labeled gay. I want to be labeled a human who loves humans. I'm tired of being labeled. I'm an American, I'm not an African American. I'm an American."

"Oh girl, don't set off Twitter," Oprah told her at the time, seemingly knowing what she said was not going to land well.

Raven then explained what she meant by the comments.

"Now, when that aired, I felt like the entire Internet exploded and threw my name in the garbage," Raven recalled, saying she felt "attacked," "judged" and "not heard."

"There was so much backlash from my community and others that misunderstood/didn't hear the exact words that I said," she continued. "And the exact words that I said is that, 'I'm an American, not an African American.' A lot of people thought I said that I wasn't Black. And I never said that."

"There's a huge difference, so what did you mean?" Maday asked.

"There's a difference between being Black and African. I identify as straight American, I'm an American not an African American," Raven replied.

Raven reiterated that the label "African American does not align" with her.

"It doesn't mean that I'm negating my Blackness or I'm not Black," she continued. "It means I am from this country. I was born here. My mom, my dad, my great-great-great-great-great ... That's what I'm saying. The pure logistics of it."

She added that she does respect her history and how her ancestors struggled.

"I also understand how much blood, sweat and tears they soaked into this earth in order to create the America that I live in today -- free, happy, tax-paying American citizen," she added.