Hey guys, it’s Emile Ennis Jr. with Clevver News, and Rihanna has issued an apology after
her Savage X Fenty “Volume 2” fashion show sparked outrage among her fanbase for
using Islam as an ‘aesthetic’.
Millions of fans, including me, were eager to tune into Rihanna’s second annual Savage
X Fenty fashion show that streamed on Amazon Prime Friday, October 2nd, as last year’s
show was highly praised for its body inclusivity and diversity.
But when tuning in, many were outraged to find out that one of the catwalk songs played
during the show, called “Doom” by London-based producer Coucou Chloe, included a remix of
sacred Islamic verses, more specifically, the use of a Hadith narration about the “end
of times” and “judgement day.”
For those of you who may not know, a Hadith is a written record of the sayings, actions
and silent approvals of the Prophet Mohammed and his closest companions.
These scripts are considered extremely sacred to Muslims, and come secondary to the Quran
in terms of textual validity and authority.
In terms of this specific Hadith used in the song, one user on Twitter pointed out it was
a very specific one that whoever mixed the song would’ve had to go searching for it.
The user wrote, “I think the person who created the song knew what they were doing.
That is a very specific hadith.
U have to go looking to find it.
It's not something non-muslims know unless they research.
So the fact that the song is called ‘Doom’ & the hadith is about the end of times?
@rihanna?”
Other fans were hurt, angered and upset that Rihanna would allow something so sacred to
the Muslim religion be used during her show.
This person tweeted, “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.”
And this user wrote, “Rihanna, I used to cheer you up for everything you did, but today
you disrespected my religion.
I’m so hurt, you have been too far.
You and the girl who made the music have to apologize for what you did, that’s the minimum
you can do.”
The backlash has only intensified since Friday as fans were waiting for Rihanna to speak
out on the issue, especially since the song has since been listed on the Savage x Fenty
Volume 2 playlist on Amazon.
On Monday morning, Coucou Chloe issued an apology in a series of tweets, writing, “I
want to deeply apologize for the offence 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.”
She went on to say, “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.
We have been in the process of having the song urgently removed from all streaming platforms.”
Some continued to argue that Rihanna shouldn’t be held responsible for this, as it was her
team and the show’s producers who should take responsibility, however those claims
were also met with criticism as it’s Rihanna who calls the shots.
One user wrote, “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.”
This clearly wasn’t an issue Rihanna could just sit back and let her team handle, which
is why she finally took action, as it was important to speak out on the issue.
In a statement shared to her Instagram story this morning, Rihanna started off by saying
QUOTE, “I’d like to thank the Muslim community for pointing out a huge oversight that was
unintentionally offensive in our SavageXFenty show.”
More importantly, Rihanna added, “I would 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 and therefore the
use of the song in our project was completely irresponsible!”
Rihanna finished out her apology by adding that moving forward, her team will QUOTE “make
sure nothing like this ever happens again.”
In another response a fan posted of their DMs, Rihanna appeared to have messaged a fan
back who was deeply hurt by the song.
She thanked the fan for reaching out and told them, “It’s been brought to our attention
and we’re taking it out.
I obviously had no clue.
So I’m editing it out, but of course you can’t take it back, ya know?
I just feel bad that I hurt people even though that was never my intention.
The Muslim community is hurt by me right now, so that’s the sad part.”
While Rihanna’s team is working to remove the song from their SavageXFenty playlist,
it is important that we hold each other accountable when witnessing offensive cultural appropriation.
Most importantly, we need to continue to educate ourselves and others as much as possible,
so speak out when you see something and keep sharing what you know to others who don’t.
To see why Rihanna came after an ignorant fan, you can click right over to watch another
Clevver video.
Then be sure to let me know all your thoughts on Rihanna’s apology following the backlash
down here in the comments.
I’m your host Emile Ennis Jr., bye guys.