Mr Viral
Image
Image Credit
Scott Legato / Contributor via Getty Images and Paras Griffin / Stringer via Getty Images
Image Alt
Sexyy Red and Bernice King
Image Size
landscape-medium
Sexyy Red celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day in a rather unconventional way, and unsurprisingly, it did not exactly land with everyone. On Tuesday (Jan. 21), Bernice King, the late civil rights leader’s youngest daughter, demanded the “Pound Town” hitmaker delete AI-generated photos she created of herself and Dr. King.
“This is intentionally distasteful, dishonoring, deplorable and disrespectful to my family and my father, who is not here to respond himself because he was assassinated for working for your civil and human rights and to end war and poverty,” Bernice penned on X, alongside a simple request: “Please delete.”
The Spelman College alum subsequently addressed critics coming after the Hood Hottest Princess creator. “Please don’t project your thoughts onto me. I don’t believe Sexyy Red to be a ‘degenerate,’ ‘ghetto’ or ‘trash.’ I have spoken out in the past about the use of and comparison to either of my parents to denigrate other people,” she said.
“I just don’t understand this type of use of my father’s image (on MLK Day, no less) in a way that does not convey what we know to be true about his service and sacrifice,” Bernice further explained. “Even if you disagree with him or with his tactics or even believe things said about him by people who hated him, why do this?”
Fortunately, Sexyy Red was understanding about how the digitally altered images of her and MLK holding hands could upset some people. “You ain’t wrong. [I] never meant to disrespect your family. My apologies. [I] just reposted something I saw that I thought was innocent,” the St. Louis native responded.
Bernice wrote back, “Thank you for your apology, which I sincerely accept. Please know that it was not my intention that you be denigrated. I value you as a human being.”
Musically, the rapper is scheduled to perform at Rolling Loud California on March 15. Other artists on the two-day event’s lineup include BossMan Dlow, Ab-Soul, YG and ASAP Rocky, who is billed as the headliner.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings