A musician has sued Rihanna's Fenty Corp. claiming that she is receiving death threats for a mistake made by the business arm of the singer in October 2020. She is now seeking $10m in damages.
What Triggered the Controversy?
A song titled 'Doom' was played at her Savage X Fenty Show in 2020. The lyrics contained sacred Islamic proverbs known as 'Hadith'. According to the accuser, whose identity has not been revealed as he is fearing for life, the singer's team had approached the artist seeking permission to use the track. The latter had given two versions and one of the two had Islamic verse.
However, the one, which the accuser had warned not to use, was played by mistake at the lingerie show. Thus facing backlash from Muslim communities for hurting their sentiment.
The Islamic vocal samples from Hadith apparently revolves around the end of times and the judgment day. For the unversed, Hadith is a collection of traditions containing sayings of the prophet Muhammad with accounts of his daily practice (the Sunna). It establishes the major source of guidance for Muslims apart from the Quran and hence, is considered of utmost importance in their life.
Later, Rihanna herself had issued an apology over the "careless mistake.".
Rihanna's Apology
In a statement released on her social media page, Rihanna, said, "I'd like to thank the Muslim community for pointing out a huge oversight that was unintentionally offensive in our savage x fenty show. 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. [sic]"
Despite Rihanna's apology, the artist has continued to receive death threats, a report on TMZ claims. She has gone into hiding as people are giving calls to behead her. Hence, she has now filed a lawsuit against Rihanna's company.
However, Rihanna nor her company is yet to respond to the issue.
This is not the first time that Rihanna has been accused of insensitivity towards Islam. In 2013, the singer was asked to leave a mosque in Abu Dhabi after posing for inappropriate pictures.
