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Rapper Sexyy Red apologizes to Bernice King over AI-generated MLK image
Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images for BET/Getty Images)
ATLANTA - Rapper Sexyy Red has apologized to Martin Luther King Jr.'s daughter after posting an AI-generated image of herself and the civil rights icon.
The X post, which was posted on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and has since been deleted, showed the "SkeeYee" rapper holding hands with King at a crowded nightclub. The rapper did not include a caption with the post.
What they're saying:
Dr. Bernice King, the youngest child of King, asked the rapper to delete the post in response.
"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," King wrote.
King followed her post by calling out some negative personal attacks towards Red.
"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 wrote.
The other side:
On Tuesday night, the Missouri rapper deleted the post and apologized to the King family.
"You ain’t wrong, never meant to disrespect your family my apologies. Just resposted something I saw that I thought was innocent," Red wrote.
King accepted the apology, saying she valued the rapper "as a human being."
"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)," King wrote. "Unfortunately, I regularly challenge the disregard. "
Dig deeper:
This isn't the first time Sexyy Red has received criticism for making what appeared to be a political statement.
In 2023, the rapper faced backlash after discussing why some Black people supported President Donald Trump, Rolling Stone reported.
"Once he started getting Black people out of jail and giving people that free money. ‘Awe, baby, we love Trump. We need him back in office,’" she said.
Months later, the rapper performed at the Governor's Ball Music Festival in front of a giant red baseball cap emblazoned with the phrase "Make America Sexyy Again."
The rapper later endorsed and voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Source: Information for this story was taken from posts on X by Dr. Bernice King and Sexyy Red as well as a story by Rolling Stone.