Issa Rae says late Nipsey Hussle helped mend relationship with Lauren London after misunderstanding

Issa Rae has revealed her relationship with Lauren London was mended by the late Nipsey Hussle after a misunderstanding over an anecdote in which an executive suggested she wasn’t fit to star in her own show due to skin hue.

It all began in 2016 when the 36-year-old star detailed obstacles she had faced while pitching her web series in her book The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl.

In both her memoir and interviews, Rae had told an anecdote in which she said a TV executive had suggested she was not fit to be the star of her own show and instead proposed women of lighter skin tones, specifically naming Lauren London.

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The point of the story was to prove that executives were out of touch with Black women and that swapping them out for one another due to things like skin color despite being nothing alike only proved that dark-skinned Black women could be edited out of their own narratives.

Though there was an over-arching industrial and societal commentary Rae was trying to prove, being named specifically hurt 36-year-old London’s feelings.

Issa did not anticipate upsetting London but she recently told Vanity Fair for her cover story that: ‘One of my biggest regrets, [is] naming her. She took offense to that.’

The two were able to put their differences aside with help from late rapper and London’s longtime partner Nipsey Hussle at Diddy’s star-studded 49th birthday party in Los Angeles back in November 2018.

Rae said that the Hussle & Motivate hitmaker approached her at the party and encouraged her to make things right.

She explained: ‘He was like, “You should just talk to her. Let me set it up.”

‘It actually sparked an amazing two-hour conversation. We had so much in common. She was like, “People don’t understand, I’m an awkward Black girl.”‘

Rae and London even had similar views when it came to the industry as a whole and how they portray Black women.

She explained: ‘In the same way that I was upset about the limited portrayal of Black women, she was like, “People do the same thing to me.” I completely get that.’

Unfortunately nearly five months later Hussle was gunned down in South Los Angeles. He was only 33.

Issa is currently working on the fifth and final season of her critically-acclaimed HBO series Insecure which is partially based on her web series.

She told Vanity Fair that she has put herself in the state of mind that she did at the very beginning as she said: ‘I’m finding myself putting season one pressure back on the show again.’

Season five of Insecure will premiere later this year on HBO and HBO Max.