Rihanna’s use of a song during the Savage X Fenty fashion show is landing her in hot water with some of her Muslim fans accusing her of cultural appropriation.
It’s generally pretty hard to make it to the top without pissing some people off. Celebrities get under people’s skin all the time, resulting in “cancel culture” becoming a major thing in the last few years. It has rarely worked but, sometimes, those attempting to cancel an artist or public figure have a point.
During her latest Savage X Fenty fashion show, which featured stunning looks from her brand ambassadors, including Willow Smith, Rihanna came under fire for one of the songs played during the event, being accused of culturally appropriating Islam by playing a version of a hadith. When you have a platform as large of hers, and especially when you preach inclusivity with your products, you’ve got to be responsible and aware of how offensive something like this could be.
According to Newsweek, hadiths are “highly revered records of the traditions or sayings of the Prophet Muhammad”, which are understandably sacred to Muslims around the world. The song played is called “Doom”, performed by London producer Coucou Chloe, who previously explained her use of the vocal sample.
“For those who were wondering what were the vocal samples – I didn’t make the vocals on this one as you can easily guess,” she reportedly wrote about the song, which was released several years ago.
Regardless of Rihanna‘s intent behind the use of this song, which very well may have been ignorant, the star is being picked apart by her Muslim fans for using this specific track, which reportedly uses a hadith about the “end of our times”. People are calling the move Islamophobic, accusing the Bajan star of cultural appropriation.
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Thus far, Rihanna has not responded to the controversy.
The second volume of her Savage X Fenty show is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video.