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Sexyy Red has apologized to the daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. after she posted a doctored photo of the late civil rights leader on his birthday.
It all started Monday when the St. Louis rapper celebrated Martin Luther King Day by posting an AI-generated image of herself dancing with Dr. King. The photo eventually caught the attention of MLK, Jr.'s daughter Bernice King, who told the artist to delete her post.
"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," she wrote.
"Please don’t project your thoughts onto me," King added. "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. I just don’t understand this type of use of my father’s image (on #MLKDay, no less), in a way that does not convey what we know to be true about his service and sacrifice."
Critics flooded King's mentions with criticism over Sexyy Red's post. The "Get It Sexyy" rapper saw King's response and acted quickly. She deleted her post on X and offered her apologies.
"You ain’t wrong, never meant to disrespect your family my apologies," she wrote. "Just resposted something I saw that I thought was innocent 🙏🏾"
Bernice King accepted Sexyy Red's apology and wished her the best. King emphasized that she did not intend to denigrate her in any way and said "I value you as a human being."
"I hope you understand my concerns about the image. I know that my father has become a bit of a caricature to the world and that his image is often used with no regard to his family, his sacrificial work, or to the tragic, unjust way in which he died (a state-sanctioned assassination). Unfortunately, I regularly challenge the disregard. I earnestly wish that people would imagine what it would feel like to see their deceased, murdered father repurposed for party fliers, unjust legislation, etc. All the best to you, young lady."
