Is Draya Disrespecting The Legendary Whitney Houston?

Basketball Wives LA star Draya Michele is not just a reality star or hip-hop booty model. She’s actually a businesswoman trying to push makeup and clothing, doing the latter through her second fashion line, Fine A** Girls, which is known for fun tees, as well as sweaters, lingerie and skull cap hats. A while back, VH1 spoke to Draya about her vision of the clothing line, she said it’s about empowering women:

“I just wanted to start something that could motivate girls. It’s like a confidence booster. I’m lucky enough to hang around really good people, I have really amazing friends, and they’re also really beautiful and we take a lot of pride in looking how we look. We’re just trying to be all-around good people, so it’s just a movement for empowerment.”

But she’s been catching a bit of heat and criticism from her fans about only using lighter-skinned women to model her line, and now she’s catching heat for a new t-shirt that features late pop icon Whitney Houston. For an upcoming shirt she’s working on with the line shows a young Whitney Houston holding a Boston Herald “Say ‘No’ To Drugs!” anti-drug bumper sticker back in 1986. Houston was about 23 at the time, smiling it up, not knowing the direction drugs would take her life in as she got older. For the shirt, the words “Early 20′s” are featured over her smiling face, and the shirt seems to be a warning for others.

Draya posted a preview of the shirt, which features Whitney’s face with the line “Say No To Drugs.” Many of her Twitter followers went ballistic, blasting her for a shirt that they felt was insensitive.

Draya later posted the original image, which was a pic of Houston from the late 1980s holding a sign that read: “Say No To Drugs.”

“FYI We would never disrespect the DIVA…She held up the sign herself,” Draya tweeted. “Just raising awareness among girls.”

What do you guys think?

-CarlieJay <3