The singer J Balvin apologized Sunday after he was criticized more than the controversial new music movie for his song “Perra,” which confirmed him tugging at two Black girls on leashes.
The online video for “Perra,” which features the Dominican rapper Tokischa and was directed by Raymi Paulus, was taken down from YouTube on Oct. 17, Billboard documented. In addition to illustrations or photos of Balvin going for walks two Black ladies on leashes, Tokischa was also witnessed posing inside of a doghouse on all fours.
In a collection of Instagram stories, Balvin, whose whole title is José Alvaro Osorio Balvin, said: “I want to say sorry to whomever felt offended, in particular to the Black gals local community.”
The Colombian star continued: “Which is not who I am. I have always expressed tolerance, love and inclusivity. I also like to help new artists, in this circumstance Tokischa, a lady who supports her people, her local community and also empowers females.”
Balvin reported that he taken off the video “as a type of regard” and that he was apologizing because of the criticism.
Balvin, Tokischa and Paulus did not instantly respond to requests for comment Monday.
Tokischa explained to Rolling Stone in an interview published Sunday that the video was “conceptual” and that it meant to emphasize the wordplay in the observe.
“If you, as a innovative, have a music that is conversing about pet dogs, you are going to build that world,” she claimed. “I comprehend the interpretation men and women experienced and I’m truly sorry that people today felt offended. But at the exact same time, artwork is expression. It is producing a globe.”
Paulus told Rolling Stone that the video was “hardly ever aimed to market racism or misogyny.”
He included: “The Dominican Republic is a country wherever most of the populace is Black and our Blackness is predominant in underground scenes, where the filming took location, and which was the topic of the video’s inspiration. ‘Perra’ was a online video filmed in the neighborhood, with people today from the community, and the use of persons of shade in ‘Perra’ was nothing much more than the participation of our individuals in it.”
Colombian Vice President Marta Lucía Ramírez claimed the video’s visuals ended up “sexist, racist, machista, and misogynistic” in an open letter printed Oct. 11.
“Perra” premiered Sept. 10 and was showcased on Balvin’s album “José,” which earned him his fourth No. 1 on the Billboard Major Latin Albums chart.
CORRECTION (Oct. 26, 2021, 10 p.m. ET): A former variation of this post misstated when J Balvin’s video was taken off from YouTube. It was eliminated Oct. 17, not Sunday. The post also misspelled the identify of a performer in the movie. She is Tokischa, not Tokishca.
