Gina Rodriguez has apologized for saying the N-word while rapping along to Lauryn Hill’s verse in the Fugees song “Ready or Not” in a since-deleted Instagram story Tuesday.
“Hey what’s up everybody? I just wanted to reach out and apologize. I am sorry. I am sorry if I offended anyone by singing along to the Fugees to a song I love. I grew up on Lauryn Hill, and um, I really am sorry if I offended you,” Rodriguez posted to her Instagram several hours after the offending post.
Many on Twitter rejected her first apology as insufficient. Rodriguez posted a second apology later on Tuesday night in an Instagram post.
“In song or in real life, the words that I spoke, should not have been spoken. I grew up loving the Fugees and Lauryn Hill. I thoughtlessly sang along to the lyrics of a favorite song, and even worse, I posted it. The word I sang, carries with it a legacy of hurt and pain that I cannot even imagine,” she wrote. “Whatever consequences I face for my actions today, none will be more hurtful than the personal remorse I feel. Watching my own video playing back at me, has shaken me to my core. It is humiliating that this has to be a public lesson but it is indeed a much deserved lesson. I feel so deeply protective and responsible to the community of color but I have let this community down. I have some serious learning and growing to do and i am so deeply sorry for the pain I have caused.”
Rodriguez’s name was trending on Twitter Tuesday as users criticized her for using the racial slur after having been accused of being anti-black in the past and of pitting black and Latinx women against each other.
She was first called out in July 2017 for a since-deleted tweet in which she asked, “Marvel and DC are killing it in inclusion and women but where are the Latinos?! Asking for a friend…”
Many took issue with the timing of the tweet, which came just as promotion for Marvel’s “Black Panther” began, and were quick to point out that the tweet ignored Latinx actors who were getting work in superhero movies, like Afro-Latinx actresses Tessa Thompson and Zoe Saldana.
“I honestly wonder how Black latinas like Gina Torres, Tatyana Ali, Tessa Thompson, and even the perpetually lost Zoe Saldana feel about Gina Rodriguez’s consistent jabs at Black women,” said one Twitter user.
Rodriguez also drew negative press in Nov. 2018 while promoting her film “Small Foot” after she corrected interviewer Xilla Valentine for praising co-star Yara Shahidi for being a role model for young black women.
“For so many women,” Rodriguez interrupted — to which Valentine replied, “For women too, but for black women, we need people on a whole other level.”
Author Sofia Quintero explained what she found problematic about Rodriguez’s remarks in a Twitter thread.
“It is quite possible for Gina Rodriguez to advocate for better Latinx representation without constantly evoking African American advances in a way that implies they’re part of the problem. If she refuses to learn that, her cultural activism actually perpetuates the problem,” in the first of several tweets.
You can watch Rodriguez’s now-deleted Instagram story below (Warning: offensive language):
Gina Rodriguez is trending on Twitter after dropping the n-word on Instagram pic.twitter.com/6llSf7ZKwd
— BallerAlert (@balleralert) October 15, 2019