Cardi B has issued an apology after being accused of imitating a Hindu goddess on a magazine cover to promote shoes.
The 'WAP' rapper's collaboration with Reebok was unveiled on this month's cover of Footwear News, and it features her wearing a red dress, holding a red sneaker with eight additional arms behind her to imitate the Hindu goddess Durga.
Listen to the rapper's apology below:
[[jwplayerwidget||https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/FRhEHWYS-dkXnENEs.mp4||FRhEHWYS]]
However, shortly after the cover was revealed, people took to social media to slam the rapper for imitating the goddess.
One Twitter user wrote: "Apparently this is Cardi B paying homage to the Hindu goddess Durga… this is straight-up racist."
[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/PRITSOFFICIAL/status/1326353836274032641]]
A second added: "Cardi B using Durga Maa to sell trainers?? When are people gonna realize our gods and goddesses aren't there to be mimicked [sic]."
[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/GeetaChelseaFC/status/1326340455886430211]]
Another Twitter user wrote: "Cardi B did not pay homage to the Hindu goddess Durga by holding a shoe in her hand, this is plain disrespect and in no way cultural appreciation. She can't getaway [sic] with this without addressing and apologizing for mocking our culture."
[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/MissAmericHANA/status/1326420547387977731]]
A fourth wrote: "Cardi B using my religion as a way to promote something and trying to cover it up as a 'homage' is disgusting.
"What she is doing is cultural appropriation and there is no one that can tell me otherwise. The fact that Cardi thinks that she compares to or even has any remote."
[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/raptalkSK/status/1326418202797215746]]
Then, on Tuesday of this week, the 'WAP' rapper apologized for the alleged cultural appropriation on Instagram saying she was told she'd "represent a goddess, that she represents strength, femininity, and liberation… and that's something that I love and I'm all about.
"And I thought that it was dope, but if people think I'm offending their culture or their religion I want to say I'm sorry. That was not my intent. I do not like disrespecting nobody's religion. I wouldn't like people to offend my religion."
[[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/CGQ1blaAlQ_/]]
Cardi continued: "I wasn't trying to be disrespectful; maybe I should have done my research. I'm sorry, I can't change the past, but I will do more research for the future."
[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/BardiUpdatess/status/1326731551648964608]]
Footwear News also issued an apology about the alledged cultural appropriation to PEOPLE, saying:
"One of the images was intended to pay homage to [the] Hindu goddess Durga, and our intent was to show a powerful woman. However, we realize we were not considerate of certain cultural and religious perspectives and how this could be perceived as deeply offensive.
"We take full accountability for this oversight and we apologize. It is important we learn from this example and are sensitive to this sort of religious imagery when creative discussions are taking place in the future."
The magazine has now updated its cover to a new image of the rapper, which was previously available as a subscriber-only exclusive.