Katy Perry is sorry y’all. She didn’t know it wasn’t a good look to rock cornrows and eat watermelon in a music video.
Katy Perry has been catching quite a few public relations L’s in recent months. First there was that time when she compared her new hairstyle to Barack Obama. Then there was that time she was accused of calling Black people “my n*ggas.” Then there was that time she made most White people look bad by dancing horribly on stage with Migos.
These aren’t the first of Perry’s transgressions. Back in 2015, she got put on blast for saying she was “headed back to the trap house.” Before that, she got clowned for rocking cornrows and other Black hairstyles in her “This Is How We Do” music video.
With a new album to promote, Perry has finally admitted to her mistakes. In an interview with Black Lives Matter activist Deray Mckesson, the pop singer chalked up her bad looks to ignorance.
“I listened and I heard and I didn’t know,” she said. “I won’t ever understand some of those things because of who I am. I will never understand, but I can educate myself and that’s what I’m trying to do along the way.”
On the “This Is How We Do” video specifically, she said it took a friend of hers to let her know where she went wrong.
“She told me about the power in black women’s hair and how beautiful it is and the struggle,” Perry added. “I didn’t know that I did it wrong until I heard people saying that I did it wrong. It takes someone to say, out of compassion, out of love, ‘Hey, this is what the origin is.’”
At the same time though, she insisted that criticism is more effective when it comes from a good place. “It’s hard to hear those clap backs sometimes,” she said. “Your ego just wants to turn from them.”
Watch the entire clip below.
Here’s how people are reacting. Needless to say, some people aren’t convinced, and they are clowing Deray for sitting Indian-style with rainbow socks.
