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Jennifer Garner is facing backlash for questioning Regina King's ancestry in a video that's resurfaced on social media.
Garner posed the controversial question to King as the two appeared on Chelsea Handler’s Dinner Party: My American Experience in 2017, per Vibe.
King opened the discussion by talking about where she grew up.
“I grew up here in L.A., born and bred. One of the few people that are born and bred in L.A. It’s, I think, a very cool thing and I kind of wear it on my chest very proudly because so many people say, ‘Oh, L.A. is this and L.A. is that,’ and I’m like, well, you’re not from L.A., so you don’t really know it,” the actress said.
“But do you know where your ancestors are from?” Garner questioned.
King laughed at the question and went on to explain how her ancestors were a part of the slave trade.
“Well, yeah… They were part of the triangle slave trade," she responded. "From Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Senegal, but my parents are both from the South. Met each other here. To this day, I’m totally grateful my mom left. My mom was the one that was like, ‘I am f**king out of this b***h and I’m going to see what else is out there,’ and she came to L.A.”
The resurfaced clip went viral on social media with many calling out the racial undertone of Garner's question.
"Jennifer Garner, a white woman from TX, asking an African American woman where her ancestors came from because Regina said she is a LA native is completely racist and disgusting. Regina is better than me. It would have gotten REAL NASTY had she asked me that at this dinner table," one Twitter user said.
"There is an instant mix of emotions that words cant accurately express that question invoked in me that Regina handled with ease, Tells me she's dealt with this energy to many times before. I would have been stuck contemplating so many different reactions," another social media user said.
Others pointed out that everyone at the table was asked where they came from in the full episode of Handler's Dinner Party: My American Experience.
See more reactions to Garner questioning King's ancestry below.
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