Wendy Williams is slamming T.I. as “sexist” after the rapper revealed in a since-removed episode of the Ladies Like Us podcast that he makes “yearly trips to the gynecologist” with his 18-year-old daughter Deyjah Harris “to check her hymen.” During the Hot Topics segment of her daytime talk show on Thursday, the Ask Wendy author spoke out against the revelation, warning him to “back off.”
“He got on his podcast and he said he goes to the gynecologist with her at the time of each birthday she has and sits there with the doctor for the final report. You know why he’s there? To check her hymen, and see if she’s a virgin.” Get all of the details in today’s Hot Topics. pic.twitter.com/j02VjBrpQ7
— Wendy Williams (@WendyWilliams) November 7, 2019
“I’m mad at T.I.,” Williams began before going on to recount the comments the rapper had made. “I would feel violated at 18 even if it was my mom and I got along with her, much less my dad. There has to be a certain amount of trust that you have in your kids. I mean, when you’re 18 years old a lot of people are already having sex, at 18.”
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“I think that the control he’s having on her is very sexist” she continued. “It’s fine for the young boy [T.I.’s son King], but not for her. I think that he’s trying to be a better man than what he’s represented in the past with the gun and going to jail.”
“Point being, T.I., back off your daughter with this,” she said. “I don’t know what Tiny [Harris] says, but there’s nobody on social media that was agreeing with him. Social media was going ham on T.I. She’s old enough to drive herself to the gynecologist.”
T.I. found himself in the hot seat following his appearance on the Ladies Like Us podcast earlier this week. During the appearance, the rapper admitted that “we have yearly trips to the gynecologist to check her hymen.”
“So then [the doctor says], ‘I just want you to know there are other ways besides sex that the hymen can be broken,” he said in part. “Like bike riding, athletics, horseback riding and just other forms of athletic physical activity. So I said, ‘Look doc, she don’t ride no horses, she don’t ride no bikes, she don’t play no sports. Just check the hymen, please. And give me back my results expeditiously.’”
His comments immediately sparked backlash, with many on social media not only saying that they were misogynistic and controlling, as his daughter should have autonomy over her own body, but that they were hypocritical, as he takes no issues with his son being sexually active.
Although T.I.’s daughter has not directly responded to the controversy, she did like a series of tweets speaking out in her support, including one which called T.I.’s parenting “disgusting, possessive and controlling.”
In response to the backlash, the podcast’s hosts, Nazanin Mandi and Nadia Moham, apologized, stating that they “were completely caught off guard/shocked” by the interview and that they “support and love Women and feel that their bodies are theirs to do as they wish.”
The podcast episode featuring T.I. has since been removed.
