RIHANNA APOLOGIZES TO MUSLIM COMMUNITY AFTER USE OF HADITH AT FENTY LINGERIE SHOW

Wed 07 October 2020:

Rihanna has issued an apology to the Muslim community after receiving backlash for using sacred Islamic verses in a song played at her fashion show.

The 32-year-old singer’s star-studded Savage X Fenty fashion show debuted on Amazon Prime on Oct. 2 and was praised for its inclusivity, featuring models of different sizes, races, and genders.

pic.twitter.com/09DHebf0SV

— Savage X Fenty by Rihanna (@SavageXFenty) October 6, 2020

The lyrics of the music video included an Arabic phrase from the Prophet’s Hadith talking about the day of judgement.

She apologized for “this honest, yet careless mistake,” and admitted to hurting the Muslim community in the video. “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!”

In the runway portion of a lingerie show that aired last weekend, the song “Doom” was played with a line from Prophet Mohammed’s Hadith that could be heard in the background as models danced across the floor.

Producer Coucou Chloe took “full responsibility” for not researching the words correctly. “We have been in the process of having the song urgently removed from all streaming platforms,” she tweeted. Chloe said that she was not aware that the text was from “an Islamic Hadith.”

The apology comes after a flurry of tweets called out Rihanna, and London-based producer Coucou Chloe, whose song “DOOM” features the controversial Hadith narration about the end of times and judgment day.

“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,” wrote one Twitter user.

Another wrote: “using islamic hadith as background music is disrespectful on so many levels. i have honestly always loved @rihanna’s sense of diversity and inclusion in all her branding, but how can you preach inclusivity when you just disrespected an entire religion?”

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. 1/2

— COUCOU CHLOE (@coucou_chloe) October 5, 2020

On Monday, producer Coucou Chloe addressed the criticism on her Twitter, writing “I want to deeply apologize for the offence caused by the vocal samples used in my song ‘DOOM’.”

“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 Chole added. She promised to have the song “urgently removed from all streaming platforms.”

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