Rihanna Apologizes for Using Hadith Verses as a Soundtrack to Fenty Runway Show
‘HONEST, YET CARELESS MISTAKE’
Rihanna and a British musician whose music was used during a virtual Savage x Fenty lingerie show broadcast last week have apologized for a song that played during the film that sampled text from a sacred Islamic Hadith.
“I’d like to thank the Muslim community for pointing out a huge oversight that was unintentionally offensive in our savage x fenty show,” the Barbadian singer and designer posted on Instagram. “I would more importantly like to apologize to you for this honest, yet careless mistake. We understand that we have hurt many of our Muslim brothers and sisters, and i’m incredibly disheartened by this!”
Coucou Chloe, the London producer behind the song “Doom,” also took to Twitter to “deeply apologize” for her work. “The song was created using samples from Baile Funk tracks I found online,” she wrote. “At the time, I was not aware that these samples used text from an Islamic Hadith.”
As people pointed out online since the show debuted on Amazon last week, Islamic Hadiths—guidance taken from sayings of the Prophet Muhammad—are considered sacred texts for Muslims.
Rihanna’s various fashion ventures (she runs beauty, ready-to-wear, and lingerie lines) have been heavily praised for their diversity shown in advertising and runway shows.