Gina Rodriguez N-word Controversy

Submission 3,148

Part of a series on Gina Rodriguez "Anti-Black" Controversy. [View Related Entries]

Overview

The Gina Rodriguez N-word Controversy refers to a public backlash to actor Gina Rodriguez singing a lyric in the song "Ready or Not" by the Fugees that contained the n-word. Rodriguez's apology for the video also became the subject of public ire.

Background

On October 15th, 2019, actor Gina Rodriguez published a video on Instagram Stories of herself receiving hair and makeup treatment and singing the song "Ready or Not" by the Fugees.

The video has since been removed, but Twitter user @blcncas shared the post, which received more than 4.6 million views, 1,300 likes and 325 retweets in 24 hours (shown below).

Developments

Online Reaction

Many were offended by Rodriguez's use of the word. They did not seem surprised by the video, as she had come under fire in 2018 for comments about race while doing press for the film Small Foot. Twitter^[1] user @ceciIiaparikh tweeted, "MY JAW IS ON THE FLOOR." The tweet received more than 14,000 likes and 2,700 retweets (shown below, left). Twitter^[2] user @blackgirls tweeted the video, writing "She FINALLY said it! I BEEN waiting! We got you on camera, HD!! You are done!!!" The tweet received more than 3 million views, 27,000 likes and 5,500 retweets in 24 hours (shown below, center).

Some did not agree with the backlash, however. Twitter^[3] user @Joee_Zolanski tweeted, "I love how y’all are trying to cancel Gina Rodriguez for saying the “n” word but haven’t cancelled Card* B for it" (shown below, right)

Apology

That day, Rodriguez published an apology for the video on Instagram Stories. However, the apology was also criticized. When posted to Twitter by @jaidanielle, the apology was called "atrocious." The post received more than 2 million views, 7,000 likes and 1,000 retweets (shown below).

That day, Rodriguez published an apology on Instagram.^[9] She wrote, "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 to do and I am so deeply sorry for the pain I have caused." Within 24 hours, the post received more than 217,000 likes (shown below).