Dutch Magazine Calls Rihanna a Racial Slur, RiRi Goes Off!

Rucuss staffDecember 20, 2011

Rihanna never thought she would see the day a racial slur would be printed about her.

But that day arrived when she read a recent issue of a Dutch magazine. The fashion editor at ‘Jackie’ magazine used the words ‘n*gga b*tch’ to describe RiRi in the issue. While readers were shocked by the magazine’s use of language to describe Rihanna, it didn’t stop them from keeping the issue on the shelves. The editor wrote, Parlour Magazine translated:

“N—A B—H. She has street cred, she has a ghetto ass and she has a golden throat. Rihanna, the good girl gone bad, is the ultimate n—a b—h and displays that gladly, and for her that means: what’s on can come off. If that means she’ll be on stage half naked, then so be it. But Dutch winters aren’t like Jamaican ones, so pick a clothing style in which your daughter can resist minus ten. No to the big sunglasses and the pornheels, and yes to the tiger print, pink shizzle and everything that glitters. Now let’s hope she won’t beat anybody up at daycare.”

Editor-in-chief Eva Hoeke claims the writer was being funny but Rihanna definitely wasn’t laughing. After she read the article she took to Twitter to give Hoeke a piece of her mind.

“@evajackie I hope u can read English, because your magazine is a poor representation of the evolution of human rights! I find you disrespectful, and rather desperate!! You ran out of legit, civilized information to print! There are 1000′s of Dutch girls who would love to be recognized for their contributions to your country, you could have given them an article. Instead, u paid to print one degrading an entire race! That’s your contribution to this world! To encourage segregation, to mislead the future leaders to act in the past!

“You put two words together, with the intent of abasement, that made no sense…”N—A B—H”?!….Well with all respect, on behalf of my race, here are my two words for you…F–K YOU!!!”

But Hoeke had already tweeted an apology in Dutch. But she has yet to apologize to Rihanna directly. She wrote:

[Translated] “Two things we learned. 1: no bad jokes in the cover page. 2. do not act as if a bad joke is good. Sorry, guys. My bad.”

In the next issue will be a correction. I can tell you that it was never our intention to offend anyone.

She also posted on her facebook:

Dear Readers,

First: thanks for all your responses. I can be brief about this: this should never have happened. End of story. The corresponding author may have had no evil intent – the headline of the article was intended as a joke – but it was a bad joke, to say the least. And that’s me, the editor, then slipped through the fingers. Stupid, and f-cking painful for all concerned. The author has been called to account. I hope that you believe that there is absolutely no racist motive to the wording underlay. It was stupid, You hear it all the time on TV and radio, then your idea of what is normal apparently shifts – but it was especially misguided: there was no malice behind it.’

We make our magazine with love, energy and enthusiasm, and it can sometimes happen that someone shoots off the road. And then you can only do one thing: apologize. And hope that others accept. From the bottom of my heart I say it again: it is never our intention for this to hurt anyone. And I mean that.

Wow, since when was calling someone ‘n*gga b*tch funny? Hoeke needs to be fired!

UPDATE!!

According to a statement posted on the Magazine’s facebook [translated] the publisher felt as though her credibility was affected and it was best that she resigned:

I realize that my first reaction on Twitter, where I indicated that it was a joke, was an incomplete description of what I, and also the author of the article referred. The term ‘n—a b—h’ h” has come over from America and we have only this to describe this particular style of clothes that we can try to interpret. Due to the enormous pressure from social media, I promised to do better regarding the language in future issues of Jackie and I have offered to rectify the situation.

I have now come to the conclusion that rectification is not the right solution. I regret that I have taken too quickly positions on an item in Jackie – which incidentally had no underlying racial motive. In the course of events I went with, the publisher came to the conclusion that, now that my credibility is affected, it’s better for all parties if I immediately lay down my duties as editor. After my eight years giving my heart and soul for Jackie, I realize that these errors – although not malicious intent – are a reason for leaving. “

Wow, that was fast but needed to be done.

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