J Balvin Apologizes, Takes Down ‘Perra’ Music Video Following Backlash Over Portrayal of Black Women
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J Balvin has apologized for his recent music video “Perra,” which received a backlash over its portrayal of Black women.
The video, which was released in September and removed from YouTube last week, showed Black actors in prosthetics in order to make them look like dogs.
The video also showed Black dancers in cages and included Balvin walking two of the Black women on leashes, prompting intense criticism, even gaining outrage from Colombia’s Vice President Marta Lucía Ramírez and Balvin’s mother.
“When I found out [about “Perra”], I called him … [and asked], “Where is the Josésito that I know?” Balvin’s mother told Colombian news station Cosmovisión. “That song is not … I don’t even know what to say. I did not see my José anywhere.”
Ramírez similarly hit at the video, calling it “sexist, racist, chauvinist and misogynistic” in an open letter published Oct. 11.
Balvin has now apologized for the video in an Instagram Live,
“I want to say sorry to whomever felt offended, especially to the black community,” Balvin said. “That’s not who I am. I’m about tolerance, love and inclusivity.”
.@JBALVIN apologizes for the video of “Perra” with #Tokischa. “My message has always been tolerance, love and integration,” he adds. pic.twitter.com/bXOzXv9MVf
— billboard latin (@billboardlatin) October 24, 2021
“I also like to support new artists, in this case Tokischa, a woman who supports her people, her community and also empowers women,” he added. “As a form of respect, I removed the video eight days ago. But because the criticism continued, I’m here making a statement. Mom, I’m sorry too. Life gets better each day. Thank you for listening to me.”
Tokischa also apologized for the video in an interview with Rolling Stone, also explaining their rationale.
“It was very conceptual. If you, as a creative, have a song that’s talking about dogs, you’re going to create that world,” she said. “I understand the interpretation people had and I’m truly sorry that people felt offended. But at the same time, art is expression. It’s creating a world.
Raymi Paulus, both Tokischa’s manager and director of the music video, additionally said that the video was meant to be satirical,” pointing to the “many contexts of the word ‘perra,'” which translates to “female dog” or “bitch” in English.
“Our creative process never aimed to promote racism or misogyny,” he said. “The Dominican Republic is a country where most of the population is black and our blackness is predominant in underground scenes, where the filming took place, and which was the subject of the video’s inspiration. “Perra was a video filmed in the neighbourhood, with people from the neighbourhood, and the use of people of colour in Perra was nothing more than the participation of our people in it.”
