J Balvin has broken his silence after the music video for his song 'Perra' was removed from YouTube amid backlash over its portrayal of Black women.
After its debut on September 10, the 'Perra' music video received criticism that it perpetuated "misogynoir" for showing the Colombian singer, 36, walking with two Black women on leashes, per BBC News.
Rapper Tokischa, who was featured on the track, was also slammed for posing in a dog house in the music video.
Earlier this month, the video quietly disappeared from YouTube, though an audio-only version of the track is still available to stream on the platform.
The song itself features lyrics about dogs in heat. "Perra" translates to "b***h" or "female dog."
On Sunday, October 24, Balvin shared a series of clips on his Instagram Story, apologizing for the video and claiming he was the one who had it taken down.
"I want to say sorry to whomever felt offended, especially to the Black community. That's not who I am," he said, per Pitchfork.
Balvin also apologized directly to his mother and added that he has "always been about tolerance, love, and integration, just as I've always liked to support new talent - in this case Tokischa, a woman who supports her people, her community and empowers women," according to Rolling Stone.
Tokischa, 25, told Rolling Stone that she's sorry about how the video has been interpreted, sharing that she was inspired to write the song while having sex and meant for it to be a play on the phrase "perra en calor."
"I said that if I'm going to talk about 'perra en calor,' I'm going use all the language associated with dogs: 'perro de raza' [purebred], 'Purina'—which is a word with a double meaning because here, that's what you call a product that's really pure… 'la perrera' [the pound]. It was very conceptual," she explained.
"If you, as a creative, have a song that's talking about dogs, you're going to create that world," she added, per BBC. "I understand the interpretation people had and I'm truly sorry that people felt offended. But at the same time, art is expression."
She added that she is supporting Balvin through this "difficult moment."
"He came here to record with me and to share his platform with me," Tokischa said. "Now I'm like 'What did I get Jose in?'"
