Rihanna has apologised to the Muslim community for the “unintentionally offensive” use of sacred texts during a lingerie fashion show.
The singer and fashion designer had come under fire after using a song featuring a sample from Islam’s sacred Hadith texts during her 2020 Savage X Fenty event.
Some Muslim fans accused Rihanna of disrespecting their religion following the show, which took place in Los Angeles earlier in October.
In response, the star thanked people for highlighting the issue.
“I’d like to thank the Muslim community for pointing out a huge oversight that was unintentionally offensive in our savage x fenty show,” Rihanna wrote in her Instagram Stories.
“I would more importantly like to apologize to you for this honest, yet careless mistake.”
In Islam, a Hadith is part of a collection of texts that form a record of the Prophet Muhammad’s words and actions – considered second only to the Quran in terms of importance.
Rihanna said she feels “incredibly disheartened” knowing she has hurt “many of our Muslim brothers and sisters”.
She added: “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!”
The star said that her team would “make sure nothing like this ever happens again”, and thanked fans for their “forgiveness and understanding”.
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The offending song is titled Doom by producer Coucou Chloe, who also apologised on social media and said work was under way to remove the track from streaming platforms.
“The song was created using samples from Baile Funk tracks I found online,” she tweeted. “At the time, I was not aware that these samples used text from an Islamic Hadith.
“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.
“We have been in the process of having the song urgently removed from all streaming platforms.”
