On Friday, Rita Ora released the pop posse cut "Girls," recruiting Cardi B, Charli XCX, and Bebe Rexha to join her. It's a breezy track about making out with other girls, framing it as the sort of thing you might do when you're drunk. The chorus is: "Sometimes, I just wanna kiss girls, girls, girls / Red wine, I just wanna kiss girls, girls girls." This struck a lot of people, most notably the openly gay pop singer Hayley Kiyoko, as being "dangerous." Kiyoko wrote, "It completely belittles and invalidates the very pure feelings of an entire community."
Yesterday, Rita Ora, who claims that she has had "romantic relationships with both women and men," apologized for the tone of the song, writing that the song "was written to represent my truth and is an accurate account of a very real and honest experience in my life." And now Cardi B has also joined the fray.
On Twitter, Cardi apologizes for the times that she has used offensive terms without realizing it. But she also defends the song and the intent behind it. Here's what she's tweeted:
Listen to “GIRLS” by Rita Ora ft me @BebeRexha @charli_xcx .We never try to cause harm or had bad intentions with the song .I personally myself had experiences with other woman ,shiieeett with a lot of woman ! I though the song was a good song and i remember my experience .
— Cardi B (@iamcardib) May 15, 2018
I know i have use words before that i wasn’t aware that they are offensive to the LGBT community .I apologize for that .Not everybody knows the correct “terms “to use.I learned and i stopped using it.
— Cardi B (@iamcardib) May 15, 2018
Exactly me too .My own friends be like “ I’m a dyke so i never thought it was a offensive word .I was like wtf ? https://t.co/rYaldJnLHN
— Cardi B (@iamcardib) May 15, 2018
