Bad gyal RiRi has come under fire for using an Islamic hadith during her annual lingerie show which aired on Amazon Prime last Friday. While the Savage x Fenty fashion show has received great accolades for being an all-inclusive one, people are not pleased with the usage of the track that has religious sentiments and are calling her out for cultural appropriation.
The fashion mogul threw a stellar show which featured singer Lizzo, Bella Hadid and other world-class models. The runway was a sight to behold as people from different ethnicities and those with different body types also had their moments of glory strutting down the runway.
Nonetheless, Rihanna’s use of the Islamic hadith, which contains Islamic phrases directly linked to the Prophet Muhammed as a guide to the Islamic faith, has come under grave scrutiny.
The Savage x Fenty soundtrack in question is “Doom” by London-based producer Coucou Chloe. The song, which was heard during the teaser video of the show, samples verses of hadith layered with upbeat dance music tempo.
Rihanna has carved a niche for herself in the industry and many fans love her, however, some were extremely displeased with the recent happenings and took to Twitter to rant. They accused the singer of cultural appropriation, being utterly disrespectful and religiously insensitive.
“Rihanna is messed up for using a song with a Hadith in it to play at her LINGERIE show,” one person wrote. “What is up with artists using Islam as an aesthetic?? Have some respect.”
Another user @reversecocunut said, “I can’t let Rihanna have a pass w appropriating Islam like for her first show the models wore a scarf around their heads and it looked like HIJAB and her second show she used a track that remixed a HADITH….why is no one talking about this, my religion is not y’all’s aesthetic.”
One added, “what rihanna did is so disappointing. It’s cultural appropriation and disrespect. The hadith has more meaning to it than just background music n to some ppl it’s very sacred n holy, so im very VERY VERY disappointed.”
The 32-year-old pop star has since apologized in a series of Instagram Stories shared by fans on Tuesday.
“I would like to thank the Muslim community for pointing out a huge oversight that was unintentionally offensive in our Savage x Fenty show,” she wrote. “I would more importantly like to apologize to you for this honest, yet careless mistake.”
