Little Mix’s Leigh-Anne Pinnock says she ‘knows her character’ in ‘dig’ at Jesy Nelson during birthday speech

Tensions between Little Mix’s Leigh-Anne Pinnock and former band member Jesy Nelson are rising once more, after Pinnock used a speech at her 30th birthday party to defend her character.

It comes after the two singers reportedly fell out following the launch of Nelson’s solo career, when her debut track “Boyz” – featuring “Super Bass” rapper Nicki Minaj – faced accusations of ‘blackfishing’, where a white person pretends to be Black or mixed race for their own gain.

Speaking to friends and family, Pinnock said: “I’m 30 years old. I know my character, you know my character, anyone that meets me knows my f**king character, and that’s all I care about.”

It was also recently reported that the remaining members of Little Mix – Leigh-Anne, Perrie Edwards and Jade Thirlwall – appear to no longer be following Nelson on Instagram following the release of “Boyz”.

Meanwhile, according to screenshots shared by influencer NoHun during an Instagram Live, Leigh-Anne allegedly sent messages on the social media platform calling on the TikTok star to “create a video about Jesy blackfishing”.

Little Mix fans have since questioned the legitimacy of the text conversation, and the messages could not be verified by The Independent.

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This didn’t stop Minaj from appearing to reference Pinnock in an Instagram Live on Monday, when her and Nelson joined a livestream to talk about the new single.

“If you was in this woman’s group and you ain’t talk about this s*** for 10 years, and as soon as you see she got a video coming out with Nicki Minaj and Puffy, now you sending text messages and all this s***?

“Print those messages out, bust your ass open and shove them up your motherf**king ass,” she said, going on to accuse the individual of being “jealous” and trying to “kill people’s lives and careers”.

Nelson appeared to laugh in response to Minaj’s remarks, which drew criticism online given that the former Little Mix member – who left the group due to mental health reasons – released a BBC documentary on internet bullying last year.

Addressing the ‘blackfishing’ allegations an interview with Vulture, published earlier this month, Nelson said that she is “very aware” that she is a white British woman and “never said that I wasn’t”.

“The whole time I was in Little Mix I never got any of that, and then I came out of [the band] and people all of a sudden were saying it.

“I love Black culture. I love Black music. That’s all I know; it’s what I grew up on,” she said.