After Gayle King brought up Kobe Bryant's rape allegations during an interview with Lisa Leslie, a chorus erupted in opposition to the television host. While the world is mourning the loss of this basketball legend, many felt that it was inappropriate to rehash this stain on his legacy. King ended up being clumped together with Oprah, who also recently faced backlash for tearing down black men through her involvement in a documentary about rape allegations against Russell Simmons. Ari Lennox, who has made a habit of voicing her opinions on Instagram Live, went on rant about King and Oprah on Thursday (Feb. 6), calling them "some self-hating, pieces of sh*t f*ckasses." The tables ended up turning on the Dreamville songstress for siding with these men and she has now penned a lengthy apology to all those who were hurt by her words.
"I am sorry. I was acting like an ass," she started off the post shared on her Tumblr page. "I impulsively spiraled cause I was sick of seeing the distasteful shade especially at such a terrible and sad time towards someone I know is good person... I’m sorry for triggering people and I’m sorry if I caused any trauma. Im sorry for victim shaming, swear that wasn’t my intent."
Lennox has come to the conclusion that social media leads to her words being misconstrued, as they are not conducive to "healthy and productive conversations." For this reason, she has decided to leave social media. Her Twitter page has already been purged save for the tweet with the link to her apology. "I’m excited to leave social media for good," she wrote. "I’m excited for true self love, healing, understanding and peace. To all the people who checked me from a place of love, I love you forever and I hear you and I deeply empathize more than you’ll ever know. I would love to keep the conversation going in real life."
You can read her full message below.