Rihanna apologises for using song with sacred Islamic verses in fashion show

Incredibly disheartened we hurt our Muslim brothers and sisters, says pop star

Pop star Rihanna was forced to apologise on Tuesday after being at the receiving end of heavy criticism for using a song that included sacred Islamic verses during her second Savage x Fenty lingerie fashion show.

Models danced to the song "Doom" by London-based producer Coucou Chloe during a portion of Rihanna's show, which was streamed on Amazon Prime on Friday.

The song, released in 2017, includes a remix  of text from a hadith narration.

The hadith, a written record of the sayings and actions of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) is secondary only to the Quran in terms of textual authority.

The song was listed on the Savage x Fenty Volume 2 playlist on Amazon, where the fashion show streamed.

She posted an apology to over 86 million followers on Instagram,”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”.

She continued: “We understand that we have hurt many of our Muslim brothers and sisters, and I’m incredibly disheartened by this!” Rihanna concluded the post by calling the decision “irresponsible” and promising to “make sure nothing like this ever happens again.

Chloe also issued an apology on Twitter,"I want to deeply apologize for the offence caused by the vocal samples used in my song DOOM, the song was created using samples from Baile Funk tracks I found online. At the time, I was not aware that these samples used text from an Islamic Hadith."

I want to deeply apologize for the offence caused by the vocal samples used in my song ‘DOOM'. The song was created using samples from Baile Funk tracks I found online. At the time, I was not aware that these samples used text from an Islamic Hadith. 1/2

— COUCOU CHLOE (@coucou_chloe) October 5, 2020

The singer added that she takes responsibility for not doing research on what the words meant and is working on getting the song removed from all streaming platforms.