Lily Allen defends her past comments about nepotism

As the discussion of nepotism in Hollywood continues to grow, the “Smile” singer—who is the daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen—recently voiced her opinions on “nepo babies,” writing in a Dec. 19 tweet that “y’all should be worrying about are the ones working for legal firms, the ones working for banks, and the ones working in politics, If we’re talking about real world consequences and robbing people of opportunity.”

The remark was met with some backlash on social media, with one Twitter user commenting, “So go have those discussions then? No one is stopping you. But when a DIRECT BENEFICIARY of a problematic system points in the opposite direction and goes ‘Hey look over there!’ I’m not willing to let them distract me.”

Now, Lily is defending herself and clarifying her thoughts. “Look, I seem to have riled people up with my comments about nepo babies,” she wrote in a Dec. 20 tweet. “I am nearly 40 years of age and am more than happy, in fact I think it’s important to disclose what a privileged upbringing I’ve had and how that has created so many opportunities for me.”

Lily went on to explain that she now has a different insight into the topic than she previously did when she was in her 20s, an age where she said her familial relationship played into her opinion of her career.

“I felt like I worked extremely hard and that I deserved the success that I had, that people connected to my songs and that the songs came from me,” she wrote in a separate Dec. 20 tweet. “I also had quite a fraught relationship with some of my family members so it felt difficult for me to attribute my successes to them, at the time.”

But despite finding success as a music artist who was born into a family of entertainment professionals, Lily feels fingers are pointing in the wrong direction.

“It is quite clear that there is a severe lack of representation in the industry where class and race are concerned. Everyone loses as a result,” she wrote on Twitter that same day, adding in a follow-up message, “I do feel that nepo babies are being somewhat scapegoated here though, there is a wider, societal conversation to be had about wealth inequality, about lack of programs and funding.”