Rita Ora thought she had the song of the summer when she roped in Cardi B, Charlie XCX, and Bebe Rexa for her faux-lesbian single “Girls” — but she thought wrong.
Shortly after its debut, openly-gay singer Hayley Kiyoko took to social media to call out Rita & co. for the song’s harmful message in an open letter.
“It’s important for us artists to use our platforms to move the cultural needle forward, not backwards,” she began. “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+ communities.”
Kehlani, who identifies as queer, co-signed Hayley’s message with a series of tweets.
https://twitter.com/Kehlani/status/995051895944200192
https://twitter.com/Kehlani/status/995052313529090048
https://twitter.com/Kehlani/status/995059727535980544
After being called out, Rita Ora apologized for the song.
— Rita Ora (@RitaOra) May 14, 2018
If you’re curious, you can listen to “Girls” below.
