Actress Gina Rodriguez is facing yet another racial scandal — this time over a social media post in which she used the n-word.
A video posted on her Instagram on Tuesday shows Rodriguez getting her hair done as The Fugees song “Ready or Not” plays in the background.
The “Jane the Virgin” star raps “I can do what you do … believe me. (N-word) give me heebie-jeebies,” before chuckling out loud. She later deleted the video but not before people saved it and shared it widely on social media.
After a flurry of criticism, she posted another video.
“I just wanted to reach out and apologize. I am sorry,” she said. “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.”
More backlash followed from people who said the apology did not sound sincere. Hours later, she posted a followup apology early Wednesday on Instagram. “In song and in real life, the words that I spoke should not have been spoken,” she said in the lengthy message. “I thoughtlessly sang along to the lyrics of a favorite song and even worse, I posted it. The word I sang carries with it a legacy of hurt and pain that I cannot even imagine. … I have some serious learning and growing up to do and I’m so deeply sorry for the pain I have caused.
This is the latest criticism for the actress that focuses on racial issues. Last year, she was accused of interrupting her “Smallfoot” co-star Yara Shahidi after an interviewer asked Shahidi how she feels about being a role model toso many young black women.
“So many women,” Rodriguez emphasized in response to the interviewer, sparking criticism from people who believe Shahidi represents a group that is routinely overlooked especially in Hollywood. In another incident last year, she was criticizedfor her awkward misinterpretation of the wage gap in the television and movie industry during a roundtable with actresses Gabrielle Union, Emma Roberts and Ellen Pompeo.
