In 2013, Lily Allen's music video for her track "Hard Out Here" was the center of much controversy. The video, which features scantily-clad black and Asian dancers twerking while champagne is poured over their bodies, was widely critiqued for promoting the "denigration of black female bodies."
Upon the video's release, Allen refused to apologize, writing, "The video is meant to be a lighthearted satirical video that deals with objectification of women within modern pop culture. It has nothing to do with race, at all," in a post titled Privilege, Superiority and Misconceptions.
Now, three years later, Allen has finally issued an apology for the video's offensive content. During a video discussion about cultural appropriation with The Guardian, Allen recognizes her mistakes.
"I was guilty of appropriating when I did a video called ‘Hard Out Here,’" she says during the video. "The intention behind it [was], I definitely wanted to make a feminist statement. But I was guilty of assuming that there was a one-size-fits-all where feminism is concerned."
She goes on to call out X-Factor contestant Honey G, a parody rapper, for cultural appropriation, explaining that she is offended by the contestant's television performances.
Watch the "Hard Out Here" music video above, and check out Allen's apology and critique of Honey G below.
