T.I. Apologizes for Sexist Comments
T.I. is under fire after his sexist comments about a woman running for president. In the wake of the backlash, the rapper has issued a formal apology via video.
During an interview with DJ Whoo Kid last week, Tip said that he would not vote for Hillary Clinton because she was female. “Not to be sexist, but I can’t vote for the leader of the free world to be a woman,” he said. “Just because, every other position that exists, I think a woman could do well. But the president? It’s kinda like, I just know that women make rash decisions emotionally—they make very permanent, cemented decisions—and then later, it’s kind of like it didn’t happen, or they didn’t mean for it to happen. And I sure would hate to just set off a nuke. I think you might be able to the Loch Ness Monster elected before you could [get a woman].”
While he tweeted an apology earlier in the week, he has issued another apology in a video on his Facebook page.
My comments about women running for president were unequivocally insensitive and wrong. I sincerely apologize to everyone I offended.
— T.I. (@Tip) October 13, 2015
“I’m being told to be quiet & just let this pass…. Nah that aint quite ME,” wrote Tip. “So,heres my apology for my jokes that I made on DJ Whoo Kids radio show. My words WERE NOT meant to be taken so literally. Never saw Whoo Kids show as a social/political platform. However Apologize none the less.”
In the two-and-a-half-minute clip, which he shot himself, Tip apologizes to the “women that I know and that know me,” including his mother, wife, daughters, sisters, and aunts. “I know you know how I joke and I know you know my heart, so I know you know me, but I apologize anyway,” he said. “I said some things that were insensitive and hurtful to women, so I apologize.”
He goes on to address the “people who don’t know me.” “I never intended to be taken as though I felt women couldn’t be leaders. That was not my intention. I know better than that. I know that my daughters as well as your daughters can lead this nation as well as any other nation as long as they apply themselves and educate themselves, and motivate themselves to do so.”
He acknowledged that he was having “barbershop talk” with Whoo Kid. “This time, I reached for a joke that was in very poor taste using a stereotype associated to women that I should not have done. That is not a reflection of how I feel, that is not a reflection of who I am,” he continued. “I merely reached for a joke using very poor judgement, and it was in poor taste.”
At the end, he also addressed Oprah Winfrey, who chided T.I. for his misogynistic comments. “Oprah, you’ve been in my house before. You know me better than that.”
Tiny has also responded to her husband’s controversial remarks. When asked by TMZ if her husband is “sexist,” she said, “Sometimes,” adding, “But he just lives in the old-man-takes-care-of-woman-chivalry-type thing.”
“He just wants to be the man,” she continued. “He wants to take care of everything. He wants the woman to be a woman and be treated like a princess.”