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'Nepo Baby' Lily Allen Sparks Debate By Saying Celeb Kids Aren't Who We Should Be 'Worrying About'

The singer, who is the daughter of actor Keith Allen and movie producer Alison Owen, also acknowledged her 'privileged upbringing.'

Lily Allen
Taylor Hill/Getty Images

Singer Lily Allen is speaking out against all the recent 'nepo baby' hate.

The "Smile" and "F**k You" singer herself is a nepotism baby, her father being actor Keith Allen and mother movie producer Allison Owen.

Allen, however, does not like being called a 'nepo baby' especially because of the negative connotation associated with the term.

She recently posted a thread on Twitter outlining her thoughts on the matter, claiming that 'nepo babies' in law, politics, and finance are the ones people "should be worrying about."

In her first tweet she said:

"The nepo babies y'all should be worrying about are the ones working for legal first, the ones working for banks, and the ones working in politics."
"If we're talking about real world consequences and robbing people of opportunity."
"BUT that's none of my business."

Allen later quote-tweeted herself:

"And before you come at me for being a nepo baby myself, I will be the first to tell you that I literally deserve nothing."

Her tweets seemed to ignite a lot of back-and-forth conversation regarding the entertainment industry and the privilege associated with nepotism.

In response—and in an attempt to clarify—Allen posted a thread that only seemed to further muddy the waters.

Her lengthy thread read:

"Look, I seem to have riled people up with my comments about nepo babies."
"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."
"I mention my age because I haven't always been able to have that conversation, in my twenties I felt very defensive about it, 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 continued:

"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 we all know it's more complicated than that."
"It's quite clear that there is a severe lack of representation in the industry where class and race are concerned."
"Everyone loses as a result."

Allen finished:

"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, and I guess that was the point I was trying to make, maybe badly."
"I promise you I'm not rooting for an industry full of people that had childhoods that looked like mine."
"I just really think that we can't get to a real solution without identifying the real problem, as fun as it is to laugh at the kids of famous people."
"Nepo babies have feelings."

Some Twitter users agreed with Allen and stated 'nepo babies' are treated differently without regard to their feelings.



Others agreed with some of what Allen stated, but pointed out she was born into opportunity many never encounter, regardless of their talent.





After much discussion, Allen hung up her hat for the day.

"Anyway, enough internets for today, I am abandoning my post as chief nepo baby defender."
"Have a wonderful rest of your day."