Days after members of the Muslim community expressed their outrage over Rihanna featuring a sampling of an Islamic text in her lingerie fashion show, the singer is responding to the backlash.
The Fenty Beauty mogul apologized for what she called an “honest, yet careless mistake” on Tuesday, following the release of Savage X Fenty Volume 2, the second edition of her all-inclusive fashion presentation, which debuted Friday on Amazon Prime.
Fans called out Rihanna for including Coucou Chloe’s track “Doom,” which contained a remixed recording of Islamic hadith ― religious texts that represent teachings and sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad ― as part of the soundtrack to the show.
rihanna is responsible for this even if she didn’t choose the music. she hired her team and she must’ve heard the songs beforehand and just because she’s rihanna doesn’t give her a free pass to disrespect a religion pic.twitter.com/V2oZErQhOg
— Maria (@selenarules6) October 4, 2020
The sampling appears to be taken from a recitation by Kuwaiti Imam Mishary bin Rashid Alafasy, according to Time.
“I’d like to thank the Muslim community for pointing out a huge oversight that was unintentionally offensive in our Savage X Fenty show,” the singer wrote in a statement on Instagram stories, which was shared across her various social media accounts. “I would more importantly like to apologize 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 and therefore the use of this song in our project was completely irresponsible,” she concluded. “Moving forward, we will make sure nothing like this ever happens again.”
Chloe has since announced she’s working on removing the song from all streaming platforms.
In a statement on Monday, the music producer also apologized for any hurt she’s caused, explaining she was “not aware that these samples used text from an Islamic Hadith” after finding them online.
“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,” Chloe wrote on Twitter.
The backlash to the inclusion of the song and the fashion show’s perceived use of Islam as just an aesthetic has been bubbling among the Muslim community online over the weekend with many fans expressing their disappointment.
okay the fact that rihanna’s show was supposed to be a keystone for “inclusion” while she completely alienated the Muslim community by disrespecting a Hadith recitation is the perfect showcase of how fashion brands & the media have never considered us as a part of their audience
— myesha thee stallion (@myeshachou) October 5, 2020
i can’t let Rihanna have a pass w appropriating Islam like for her first show the models wore a scarf around their heads and it looked like HIJAB and her second show she used a track that remixed a HADITH....why is no one talking about this, my religion is not y’all’s aesthetic
— . (@reversecocunut) October 4, 2020
like I LOVE IT when y’all appreciate islam and use Arabic words but I am not okay with it being appropriated and belittled for things like this. The last thing y’all should be doing is remixing versus of the quran for your music like wtf it’s absolutely disrespectful
— . (@reversecocunut) October 4, 2020
Rihanna, i used to cheer you up for everything you did, but today you disrespected my religion, i’m so hurt, you have been to far, you and the girl who made the music have to apologize for what you did, that’s the minimum you can do
— ً (@ayagssm) October 4, 2020
Rihanna is messed up for using a song with a Hadith in it to play at her LINGERIE show. What is up with artists using Islam as an aesthetic?? Have some respect.
— n (@nelirv_) October 4, 2020