LEFT: Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images for TIME) RIGHT: (Photo by Prince Williams/WireImage)
Roommates, Sexyy Red, landed herself in the hot seat with the King family. On Monday (Jan. 20), the rapper shared an AI-generated photo of Martin Luther King Jr. on her social media to celebrate his holiday. Well, Bernice King made it obvious she wasn’t feeling Sexyy’s chosen visual!
Not only did Bernice call her out on social media on Jan. 21, but the activist’s daughter also requested that Sexyy remove the fake photo. Since then, both women have cleared the air via social media, but keep scrolling to see HOW.
“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 and to end war and poverty. Please delete,” Bernice King wrote on X (formally Twitter).
As mentioned, the photo of Sexyy Red and Martin Luther King Jr. was an AI product. It showed Martin holding hands with Sexyy as they gazed at each other. It’s unclear if the post included a caption because, as of Tuesday evening, it appears the rapper removed the photo from her X account. Swipe below to see the picture.
That wasn’t the only photo Sexy shared featuring Dr. King. She also posted another AI-generated image showing her standing near Martin Luther King Jr. at a fake protest. Her caption said, “Happy MLK Day!!” As seen below, that post is also no longer available on Sexyy’s X feed.
A little over an hour after her initial post, Bernice King circled back to clock the trolls spinning her words. She clarified that her call out wasn’t a personal attack. Instead, she explained that the AI-generated image of her dad and similar ones confuse her.
“Please don’t project your thoughts onto me. 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. I just don’t understand this type of use of my father’s image (on #MLKDay, no less) in a way that does not convey what we know to be true about his service and sacrifice. Even if you disagree with him or with his tactics or even believe things said about him by people who hated him, why do this?”
As mentioned, Red seemingly wasted no time complying with Bernice’s removal request. Though she was a bit slower to respond directly, Sexyy ultimately did on Tuesday night. She quote-tweeted Bernice King’s initial call-out and apologized for the misunderstanding.
“You aint wrong, never meant to disrespect your family my apologies. Just resposted something I saw that I thought was innocent,” Sexyy Red wrote.
A little over an hour later, Bernice King accepted Sexyy Red’s apology and cleared up any confusion about her intention behind the posts.
“Thank you for your apology, which I sincerely accept. Please know that it was not my intention that you be denigrated. I value you as a human being,” Bernice wrote.
She continued on, sharing that her concern goes beyond Red and extends to anyone abusing her father’s image for moments not related to his legacy.
“I hope you understand my concerns about the image. 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). Unfortunately, I regularly challenge the disregard. I earnestly wish that people would imagine what it would feel like to see their deceased, murdered father repurposed for party fliers, unjust legislation, etc. All the best to you, young lady.”
Sexyy Red has not commented on Bernice King’s second reply. However, she took time yesterdaybefore replying to Kingtorespondto a special request from Bruno Mars!
