Gina Rodriguez is in major trouble for her use of the N-Word.
Which is not a sentence we expect to write today.
However, the beloved Jane the Virgin star went online this evening and issued an apology after followers reacted in an uproar to one of her videos on Instagram Stories.
The video in question featured Rodriguez rapping along to the song “Ready or Not” by The Fugees and Lauryn Hill.
To be clear, she was simply quoting the lyrics when she uttered the aforementioned epithet — but this was still enough for many social media to voice their objections.
And also enough for Rodriguez to deliete the footage after about three hours.
“Hey, what’s up everybody? I just wanted to reach out and apologize. I am sorry,” the actress explains on her Story.
She adds:
“I am sorry if I offended anyone. My singing along to the Fugees, to a song I love that I grew up on, I love Lauryn Hill. And, um, I really am sorry if I offended you.”
In the video — which she shared earlier on Tuesday — Rodriguez sang along was getting her hair and makeup done when she rapped the following verse:
“Voodoo; I can do what you do, easy / Believe me … n–gas give me heebie-jeebies.”
After saying the N-Word, the Jane the Virgin alum smiled and laughed.
This controversial footage and Rodriguez’s subsequent mea culpa sparked a tweetstorm.
One person argued that she “wins the award for the most half assed apology,” while a second sarcastically remarked that they “love to end latinx heritage month with gina rodriguez saying the n-word.”
Ouch.
To some critics, there actually is a backstory to this.
They detect a slight pattern in Rodriguez’s attitude toward African-Americans.
In January of 2019, the star was accused of being “anti-black,” largely due to her various comments about how Latinx women are more discriminated against than African-American wome… to which she issued a tearful apology live on a radio show.
Very emotional, the 35-year-old explained that she can’t be anti-black because her father has dark skin.
“So to get anti-black is saying that I’m anti-family. My father is dark-skinned, he’s Afro-Latino … If anything, the black community is my community. As Latinos, we have black Latinos,” she said.
“That is what we are. I am not, so I think that when I speak about Latino advocacy people believe I only mean people of my skin color.”
She concluded at the time:
“We don’t need to fight each other and if I caused that notion, please forgive me because that is not my intent at all.”
Just days after going viral for her comments, the former CW leading lady questioned whether she truly offended anyone — or if it was social media that perpetuated this idea.
“I’ve never said anything controversial about anyone in particular — period. I am not against anyone. I create opportunities for everyone. So I think we often — like, we’re living in a culture and in a climate where this is where we’re getting our factual information,” she said back then.
“But they’re not facts. They’re opinions. So I can’t live my life based off of social media opinion.”