Rihanna has apologized to the Muslim community, following an uproar against the inclusion of Islamic a hadith, a collection of traditions and sayings from the prophet Muhammad during a provocative Savage x Fenty lingerie show.
According to moguldom.com, the 32-year-old Fenty founder shared an apology on her Instagram story, writing that the choice of song was an “honest, yet careless mistake.”
“I’d like to thank the Muslim community for pointing out a huge oversight that was unintentionally offensive in our savage x fenty show,” Rihanna wrote.
“I would more importantly like to apologize to you for this honest, yet careless mistake. We understand that we have hurt many of our Muslim brothers and sisters, and I’m incredibly disheartened by this!”
“I do not play with any kind of disrespect toward God or any religion,” Rihanna continued, “and therefore the use of the song in our project was completely irresponsible! Moving forward we will make sure that nothing like this ever happens again. Thank you for your forgiveness and understanding,” she wrote, signing off: “RiH.”
The song Rihanna used was called “Doom” by London-based producer Coucou Chloe. Coucou Chloe also took to social media to apologize for including samples of an Islamic hadith in her song. The singer added that the song is in the process of being “urgently removed from all streaming platforms.”
“I want to deeply apologize for the offense caused by the vocal samples used in my song ‘DOOM.’ The song was created using samples from Baile Funk tracks I found online.
At the time, I was not aware that these samples used text from an Islamic Hadith,” the musician wrote Monday on Twitter. “I take full responsibility for the fact I did not research these words properly and want to thank those of you who have taken the time to explain this to me,” Coucou Chloe tweeted.
Rihanna has often been known for promoting models of different races and sizes, including in the fashion show.
But when it comes to the representation of Muslims, she has a mixed record, Middle East Eye reported. Rihanna included hijab-wearing model Halima Aden in the launch of her cosmetic brand Fenty Beauty in 2017, and she was accused of appropriating Islamic dress. In 2019, models for Savage X Fenty lingerie launch, including Palestinian-American model Bella Hadid, had their hair covered in a way that some interpreted as similar to hijab.
