Gina Rodriguez apologizes again for using N-word after first apology is called 'weak'

Gina Rodriguez has released a second apology for her use of the N-word after her first one was widely criticized.

The Jane the Virgin alum, who is of Puerto Rican descent, posted a video to social media showing herself singing along to the 1996 Fugees track “Ready or Not,” including the line, “Fronting n****s give me heebie-jeebies.” Rodriguez, who previously faced accusations about being “anti-black,” faced immediate backlash, so she deleted the video and issued an apology.

But that apology — “I am sorry if I offended anyone by singing along to The Fugees, to a song I love that I grew up on” — wasn’t well-received. She was slammed for not actually apologizing for using the slur. The apology was called “weak,” “patronizing” and “disingenuous.”

So early Wednesday, Rodriguez apologized again in a statement shared on Instagram. In it, she wrote she was “deeply sorry for the pain I caused.” She also acknowledged, “The word I sang carries with it a legacy of hurt and pain that I cannot imagine.” And added, “I have serious learning and growing to do.”

Her entire apology read: “In song or in real life, the words that I spoke should not have been spoken. I grew up loving the Fugees and Lauryn Hill. I thoughtlessly sang along to the lyrics of a favorite song, and even worse, I posted it. The word I sang carries with it a legacy of hurt and pain that I cannot imagine. Whatever consequences I face for my actions today, none will be more hurtful than the personal remorse I feel. Watching my own video playing back at me has shaken me to my core. It is humiliating that this has to be a public lesson but it is indeed a much deserved lesson. I feel so deeply protective and responsible to the community of color but I have let this community down. I have some serious learning and growing to do and I am so deeply sorry for the pain I have caused.”

Rodriguez turned off the comments for her apology post after being slammed left and right on social media the day before, which led to her trending on Twitter.

Rodriguez’s first apology:

In January, Rodriguez responded to critics who called her “anti-black” for comments she made about pay equality in 2018. However, her comments in that interview — on SiriusXM’s Sway in the Morning — only led to further criticism.

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