Gina Rodriguez apologized for using the N-word. The Jane the Virgin star has been under fire for using the epithet in a recent Instagram Stories video, and on Tuesday she apologized through the same medium. The actress spoke directly to fans about the whole controversy.
“Hey, what’s up everybody — I just wanted to reach out and apologize,” Rodriguez said on Tuesday. “I am sorry. I am sorry if I offended anyone by singing along to The Fugees, to a song I love, that I grew up on. I love Lauryn Hill and I really am sorry if I offended you.”
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Later on in the evening, Rodriguez gave a more formal apology in a regular Instagram post. In a screenshot of text, she wrote that she felt true remorse for using the racial slur, even in the context of a song.
“In song or in real life, the words that I spoke should not have been spoken,” Rodriguez wrote. “I grew up loving the Fugees and Lauryn Hill. I thoughtlessly sang along to the lyrics of a favorite song, and even worse, I posted it. The word carries with it a legacy of hurt and pain that I cannot even imagine. Whatever consequences I face for my actions today, none will be more hurtful than the personal remorse I feel.”
“Watching my own video playing back at me, has shaken me to my core,” she continued. “It is humiliating that this has to be a public lesson, but it is indeed a much deserved lesson. I feel so deeply protective and responsible to the community of color but I have let this community down.”
“I have some serious learning and growing to do and I am so deeply sorry for the pain I have caused,” Rodriguez concluded.
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The video that sparked the outrage is gone from Rodriguez‘s Instagram Stories, but it is still floating around social media elsewhere. The clip shows her getting her hair and makeup done as the song plays in the background. Fans have pointed out that as she rapped along to the lyrics, she skipped the line before the N-word to take a breath, then came back to enunciate the epithet. Some even argued that she knew it would be divisive, as she looked at one of her makeup artists afterwards and shared an uncomfortable laugh.
Many fans were not receptive to Rodriguez’s apology. Some predicted the statement ahead of time, and said that they would not be forgiving her any time soon.
“Waiting for that fake apology with them fake a- tears luv,” one person tweeted.
Rodriguez has faced accusations of racism before, with critics calling her “anti-black” for frequently inserting Latinx issues with African-American issues. She gave a tearful interview on Sway in the Morning where she apologized for those instances.
“The black community was the only community that I looked towards growing up. We didn’t have many Latino shows, and the black community made me feel like I was seen,” she said. “So to get anti-black is saying that I’m anti-family. My father is dark-skinned, he’s Afro-Latino. If anything, the black community is my community. As Latinos, we have black Latinos. That is what we are. I am not, so I think that when I speak about Latino advocacy people believe I only mean people of my skin color.”
“If I have hurt you, I am sorry and I will always be sorry, but you have to know that, until you know my heart, there’s no way that we can live off clickbait, you guys,” Rodriguez said at the time. “You are allowed to feel pain and I empathize with your pain, and I’m sorry if I caused your pain because it is the last thing I want to do … We don’t need to fight each other and if I caused that notion, please forgive me because that is not my intent at all.”
