PHOTOSGina Rodriguez Under Fire For Saying The N-Word During Instagram Live
Oct. 16 2019, Updated 5:13 p.m. ET
Gina Rodriguez came under fire after she posted an Instagram Live of herself saying the n-word while rapping along to The Fugees' 1996 tune "Ready Or Not." Fans were quick to slam her on social media and she issued an apology for her actions on Tuesday, October 15.
Gina, 35, sang along to the song while getting her hair and makeup done. "I can do what you do believe me. Frontin' n****s give me heebie-jeebies," she rapped while the camera rolled. "Oh here we go again," one fan wrote. "I wouldn’t normally be offended by this ... but with Gina Rodriguez’s controversial history of addressing and dismissing Black issues ... I’m a little irritated. It’s starting to feel like she’s taunting us at this point," another added. "Gina Rodriguez has proven time and time again to be anti-Black. now she’s out here saying the n-word and POSTING IT ON INSTAGRAM. Nobody let her crocodile tear her way outta this one. She’s over," a third person noted.
The TV star issued an apology minutes after the clip made the rounds on social media and began trending on Twitter. "Hey what's up everybody I just wanted to reach out and apologize. I'm sorry. I'm sorry if I offended anyone by singing along to The Fugees — to a song that I love and grew up on. I love Lauryn Hill and I really am sorry if I offended you," she said during another Instagram update.
This isn't the first time she's found herself in hot water over racial issues. In November 2018, she made some controversial comments about diversity and equal pay during a Net-a-Porter roundtable with Ellen Pompeo, Emma Roberts and Gabrielle Union.
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"I get so petrified in this space talking about equal pay, especially when you look at the intersectional aspect of it. Where White women get paid more than Black women, and Black women get paid more than Asian women, Asian women get paid more than Latina women, and it’s like a very scary space to step into," she said during the discussion.
She tearfully addressed the allegations that she was "anti-Black" during an interview on the Sway In The Morning radio show in January 2019.
"The backlash was devastating to say the least. The Black community was the only community I looked to growing up. We didn’t have that many Latino shows, so the Black community made me feel like I was seen. So to get anti-Black is saying that I’m anti-family. If anything, the Black community is my community. When I speak about Latino advocacy, people think I’m only talking about people who are my skin color, but little do they know that I’m very aware of what my culture is. I know my intention. The last thing I’d want to do is put two underrepresented groups against each other," she attempted to explain.
Gina turned off the comments feature on her Instagram account shortly after she made headlines.
