J Balvin has released a statement after blazing backlash over the video for his new song ‘Perra.’
The Tokischa collaboration, which is lifted from the Latin star’s latest album ‘Jose,’ saw its accompanying video unleashed earlier this month. And it was greeted by lashings from left, right, and center.
.@JBALVIN apologizes for the video of "Perra" with #Tokischa. “My message has always been tolerance, love and integration,” he adds. pic.twitter.com/bXOzXv9MVf
— billboard latin (@billboardlatin) October 24, 2021
Primarily due to its depiction of Black women as dogs on leashes held by the star.
As a result of the furor, Balvin confirmed that the visual had been removed from YouTube “as a form of respect.”
Via Instagram Stories, he went on to write:
“I want to say sorry to whomever felt offended, especially to the Black community. That’s not who I am. I’m about tolerance, love and inclusivity.”
For what it’s worth, Tokischa told Rolling Stone that the video set out to mirror the wordplay of the track: “It was very conceptual. If you, as a creative, have a song that’s talking about dogs, you’re going to create that world.”
Still, after all the dialogue the world at large has been engaged in over the last year as relates to race (specifically Blackness), it’s mind-boggling how such imagery was even approved – given how immediately the problematic jumps out.