Rita Ora Issues Public Apology – I have had romantic relationships with women & men throughout my life.

Rita Ora Issues Public Apology – I have had romantic relationships with women & men throughout my life.

Coming to us via Twitter on Monday, British pop songstress Rita Ora took to her social media account to issue a heartfelt apology to the members of the LGBTQ+ community regarding the lyrics of her newest song “Girls.” In the song, Ora reveals her history with bisexuality singing on the track,

Sometimes I just wanna kiss girls, girls, girls / Red wine; I just wanna kiss girls, girls, girls…

Listen to a snippet of the track below.

Some members of the LGBTQ+ community, however, were offended by the flippant nature of the song, including singer Hayley Kiyoko who described the song as “tone deaf” and “causing more harm than good for the community.” Hayley explained on Instagram,

It’s important for us artists to use our platforms to move the cultural needle forward, not backwards. There is a new song that came out today featuring a handful of well-known pop artists that me overwhelmed with thoughts. I literally have a knot in my stomach right now. To be clear, I fully support other artists who freely express themselves and applaud male and female artists who are opening up more and more about their sexual identities.

But every so often there come certain songs with messaging that is just downright tone-deaf, which does more harm than good for the LGBTQ+ community. A song like this just fuels the male gaze while marginalizing the idea of women loving women. I know this wasn’t the intention of the artists on the song, but it’s the lack of consideration behind these lyrics that really get me.

Ora, who is currently dating Andrew Watt, stated that she “never meant to cause any harm to other LGBTQ+ people,” indicating the song was inspired by Katy Perry’s 2008 hit song “I Kissed a Girl.”

[That song] was so fun. I wanted to do something that was in that lane.

See Rita’s complete apology below.

By: Celeste Williams