Madonna Deletes Racial Slur, 'Apologizes'

Madonna has non-apologized for using a racial slur on an instagram photo of her son, Rocco. While Madonna is known for her outrageous antics (I know that makes her sound more like a cartoon cat than anything else) the internet has been up in arms about her recent behavior. First she FaceBooked a photo of her son and his friends holding bottles of vodka, and now she’s used the hashtag ‘disnigga’ to compliment her son on his boxing skills. That is horrible, Madonna!

Madonna released a statement today:

“I am sorry if I offended anyone with my use of the N-word on Instagram,” the singer said in a statement on Saturday, Jan. 18. “It was not meant as a racial slur…I am not a racist.”

She added: “There’s no way to defend the use of the word. It was all about intention…It was used as a term of endearment toward my son who is white. I appreciate that it’s a provocative word and I apologize if it gave people the wrong impression. Forgive me.”

It’s great that Madonna has kinda-sorta apologized (although she edited the comment on the photo to demand that the “haters” take leave of “her dick”) but “I’m sorry you were offended ” is a shitty replacement for “I’m sorry I did something offensive.” Actually, it’s not really a replacement at all.

Let’s hope that incidents like this lead to more discussion of casual racism and whether intention even has anything to do with whether words could/should be used by persons not in the minority group the words are meant to describe (spoiler alert: it doesn’t). Words that have been used to demean, humiliate, and oppress certain groups should not be used as terms of endearment by those who have historically done the oppressing.