Following a backlash over allegations of past racist remarks, LA singer and rapper Doja Cat has issued a public apology on Instagram.
The ‘Say So’ hit maker, 24, came under fire late last week after videos surfaced of her participating in alt-right chat rooms, where she made sexual comments to men who were reportedly white supremacists. She was also criticised for a 2015 song with an offensive title.
“I understand my influence and impact and I’m taking this all very seriously,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “I love you all and I’m sorry for upsetting or hurting any of you. That’s not my character and I’m determined to show that to everybody moving forward.
“I’ve used public chat rooms to socialise since I was a child,” she added. “I shouldn’t have been on some of those chat room sites but I personally have never been involved in any racist conversations. I’m sorry to everyone I offended.”
Her response contradicts remarks she made in an interview with Paper magazine in December, in which she admitted to “making offensive jokes” in online chat rooms. “People would pick on me and use horrible, horrible language, just the worst, and I just didn’t understand why people were so crazy on there,” she said in that interview. “So I became the person who would make offensive jokes and do things sort of out of the box.”
Doja Cat (born Amalaratna Zandile Dlamini), who is half black with South African roots, also apologised for a 2015 song titled ‘Dindu Nuffin,’ which people on social media interpreted as mocking the death of Sandra Bland, a black woman who died in police custody in 2015. The title is based on a phrase used to taunt black victims of police brutality.
“As for the old song that’s resurfaced, it was in no way tied to anything outside of my own personal experience,” Doja Cat wrote. “It was written in response to people who often used that term to hurt me. I made an attempt to flip its meaning but recognise that it was a bad decision to use the term in my music.”
The singer, whose ‘Say So,’ a collaboration with Dr Luke and Nicki Minaj, hit No 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart this month, doubled down on Instagram Live, saying the song was “in zero ways connected to police brutality or Sandra Bland.”
She also took a moment to deny insulting Beyonce after a video surfaced on social media where she referred to the singer as “Beyonkey.”
“Beyonce is the cream of the crop,” she said. “Beyonce is the reason why I believe I can be who I am. Beyonce is one of the driving forces of who I am in my career. Beyonce is undeniably talented, and every time anyone has ever came for Beyonce I was there. And that’s all I have to say.”
