Rihanna has apologized for the "careless mistake" of using a song that samples a sacred Islamic text at a recent virtual runway show for her lingerie collection.
The pop star posted an apology on her Instagram Stories on Tuesday after being criticized for using the song "Doom" in the show for her Savage X Fenty collection. The track by Coucou Chloe sampled a hadith, which are sayings or texts attributed to the Prophet Muhammad and held sacred by Muslims.
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"I'd like to thank the Muslim community for pointing out a huge oversight that was unintentionally offensive in our savage x fenty show," Rihanna wrote. "I would more importantly like to apologize to you for this honest, yet careless mistake.
"We understand that we have hurt many of our Muslim brothers and sisters, and I'm incredibly disheartened by this! I do not play with any kind of disrespect toward God or any religion and therefore the use of the song in our project was completely irresponsible! Moving forward we will make sure nothing like this ever happens again. Thank you for your forgiveness and understanding, Rih."
Rihanna's statement follows one by Coucou Chloe, who issued her own apology on Monday and said she is working to have the song removed from streaming platforms.
"I want to deeply apologize for the offence caused by the vocal samples used in my song ‘DOOM,'" the French-born DJ and producer tweeted. "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 take full responsibility for the fact I did not research these words properly and want to thank those of you who have taken the time to explain this to me. We have been in the process of having the song urgently removed from all streaming platforms."
The apologies came after some sharp criticism from the Muslim community popped up on social media.
"I can’t let Rihanna have a pass w appropriating Islam like for her first show the models wore a scarf around their heads and it looked like HIJAB and her second show she used a track that remixed a HADITH....why is no one talking about this, my religion is not y’all’s aesthetic," one person tweeted.
"If you guys don’t know much about islam(that is completely fine!!), a hadith is the words/ advice that our Prophet Mohammad(SAV) spoke and gave to people to educate them. it is very disrespectful to use it in a video of people dancing and even more in a lingerie show," another person tweeted.
The incident with the song runs counter to Rihanna's work toward inclusivity in her fashion shows, which have included models of all body types, races and religions, including model Halima Aden, who wore a hijab on the runway.
TODAY has reached out to Coucou Chloe for further comment and not yet heard back.