*As we previously reported, LisaRaye McCoy was threatened with legal action by singer and skin whitening advocate Dencia, who claims the actress criticized her popular skin bleaching product called, Whitenicious, by claiming it causes cancer.
The offense occurred earlier this month when McCoy stopped by V-103 for a radio interview with Big Tigger to promote her directorial debut, “Skinned.” The film explores the disturbing trend of skin lighting/bleaching through chemical products. It premiered January 9 on TVOne.
During the radio chat, Lisa said she wanted to shine light on the epidemic and went on to say that some of the over-the-counter products cause skin cancer. She named White-a-licious, but she may have been referring to Dencia’s Whitenicious.
“We set out to produce a film not only to address the global epidemic, but more importantly, the history among people of color regarding the way we think and the acceptance of our given gifts,” said McCoy in a statement to promote the film. “Skinned will impact those who are struggling with their own identity and self-worth. There hasn’t been a film to address this epidemic since Spike Lee’s School Daze touched on the subject matter.”
She told Tigger, “With this over the counter drug, it causes skin cancer…But this product that’s on the market now, it’s called White-a-licious and they use this cream like lotion all over their body to bleach their skin to become lighter. Their knuckles and elbows stay the original color, so you’re looking at them, like, what did you do?”
Following her interview, Dencia got wind of her comments from a fan and quickly had her lawyers draw up an infringement letter and sent it to LisaRaye demanding a retraction. As YBF reports, in the document, “Dencia claims LisaRaye’s comments have caused a reduction in her skin whitening cream sales.”
Dencia gave LisaRaye a January 21 deadline to make a video retraction, but instead of apologizing, McCoy’s lawyer, C. Anthony Mulrain, fired back, making several points, per TMZ:
-LisaRaye never called out Whitenicious, she referenced “Whitealicious” on the radio.
-Even if a jury felt she was really going after Whitenicious, by Dencia’s own admission, it’s a God send. Dencia tweeted, “Everytime a celeb or blog mentions Whitenicious, saying anything good or bad, the sales go up 1000%, so hey keep talking.”
-Dencia can pound sand if she’s expecting a retraction. But in the spirit of sisterhood, LisaRaye will post a statement on Facebook and Twitter saying she was not referring to Dencia’s product.
This is not the first time the Whitenicious CEO has come for a popular Hollywood figure. Last year she went in on NecoleBitchie (now called XoNecole) Editor-in-chief, Necole Kane.
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