Chicago rapper Twista has apologized to actress Gabourey Sidibe after he posted an offensive meme on Instagram pitching the Precious actress against a slimmer model and asking his followers who they’ll rather prefer.
In the post that was shared on December 8 and has since been deleted, the Slow Jamz rapper put up a photo collage of Sidibe and model Bernice Burgos, with a hypothesis on top of each photo and a question. Sidibe was pitched as a successful woman who owns a car and house with no kids, possessing a 401k plan and earns $30 an hour. Burgos, on the other hand, was described as a woman with no job, sleeps on the couch, doesn’t own a car, has over 12k followers on IG, and also has three kids by three fathers.
Twista on the post then threw a question to his followers with a caption, asking: “Who y’all choosing A or B?”
Sidibe, who saw the post replied: “Wow. I um… gee. @twistagmg I only liked you as a rapper I forgot about in 2005. But good luck with option B!” The Senegalese-American actress’ fiancé, Brandon Tour, also clapped back at the rapper with the reply: “C YOU NEED A JOB.”
Following her response and the backlash, the rapper deleted the post and issued out an apology. Speaking with The Shade Room, the Overnight Celebrity rapper said the post was an “honest mistake”, adding: “My apologies to anyone that took offense to it.”
“I was traveling most of the day when I saw the mistake, I immediately had it taken down,” he said. “I don’t know her directly but my sincere apologies to her.”
In a longer apology shared on his Instagram page on Wednesday, the rapper claimed he wasn’t the one behind the post, but one of his employees.
“My true fans know my character!” he started. “I operate my page, but I also have other people with my company [who] do so as well. The mistake was made by an employee! Totally not my views or thought process! Everyone is beautiful in my eyes! And I also believe beauty starts from within! And I also believe your character and personality defines a person’s beauty more than their physical appearance!”
He added: “@gabby3shabby has always been a beautiful Black woman to me! As soon as I saw the post I was upset and immediately corrected it! So, I apologize for letting something like this happen! Once again, it’s completely out of my character to have those kind of opinions or make those kind of posts!!!”
Apart from the incident, Sidibe recently announced her engagement to Tour on her Instagram page with a caption paying tribute to him.
“My BFF proposed and now I get to hold him forever. The funniest man I’ve ever met. The sweetest human to exist. @brandontour made up a song for when i [sic] put my bonnet on at night,” she captioned.
“The second I look a bit stressed and overwhelmed, he jumps into action to take over what he can for me. Every moment with him is a joy. He is the partner i thought I was too independent to need. I’ve learned so much about myself through him and I feel grateful and excited to learn more about the entire world with him by my side. My partner, my best friend, my cats’ daddy, my mans, my heart, my fiancé!!!”
