Cardi B has apologised for "causing harm" to members of the LGBT community through Rita Ora’s track ‘Girls’, which she featured on.
The 25-year-old rapper teamed up with Rita alongside Bebe Rexha and Charli XCX to release the single – which details Rita’s bisexuality – last week, which received backlash from members of the LGBT community who branded it as "tone deaf" and problematic.
Rita recently released an apology in which she stated she never intended to "cause harm" to anybody, and now Cardi has weighed in on the situation in a series of tweets which revealed that she herself has had sexual experiences with "a lot of women".
Cardi wrote: "Listen to "GIRLS" by Rita Ora ft me @BebeRexha @charli_xcx .We never try to cause harm or had bad intentions with the song .I personally myself had experiences with other woman ,shiieeett with a lot of woman ! I though the song was a good song and i remember my experience .
"I know i have use words before that i wasn’t aware that they are offensive to the LGBT community .I apologize for that .Not everybody knows the correct "terms "to use.I learned and i stopped using it. (sic)"
Singer Hayley Kiyoko – who identifies as gay – was one of the people who took aim at the song, picking out the lyrics: "Sometimes, I just wanna kiss girls/Red wine, I just wanna kiss girls," as she claimed they suggested Rita would only kiss girls if she was drunk first.
Hayley said: "Every so often there come certain songs with messaging that is just downright tone-deaf, which does more harm than good for the LGBTQ+ community. A song like this just fuels the male gaze while marginalising the idea of women loving women.
"I don’t need to drink wine to kiss girls; I’ve loved women my entire life. This type of message is dangerous because it completely belittles and invalidates the very pure feelings of an entire community."
Previously, Rita had claimed she wanted the song to become a bisexual anthem, and in her apology, stated that the track had been written based on her own experiences.
She wrote in a statement: "Hello everyone reading this. Girls was written to represent my truth and is an accurate account of a very real and honest experience in my life. I have had romantic relationship with women and men throughout my life and this is my personal journey.
"I am sorry how I expressed myself in my song has hurt anyone. I would never intentionally cause harm to other LGBTQ+ people or anyone. Looking forward, I hope that continuing to express myself through my art will empower my fans to feel as proud of themselves as I’m learning to feel about who I am. I’m ever thankful to my fans for teaching me to love myself to matter what. I have strived to be a contributor to the LGBTQ+ community throughout my entire career and always will be.
"Love, Rita. (sic)"
Cardi B weighs in on Girls criticism
