Billie Eilish on Tuesday apologized for a resurfaced video that showed her mouthing along to a song that includes an anti-Asian slur.
A TikTok user posted a video of the pop star lip-syncing along to the 2011 song “Fish” by rapper Tyler, the Creator, which includes an anti-Asian slur.
The TikTok included two other clips of Eilish, one accusing her of “talking with a blaccent” and another clip that supposedly showed the singer “mocking Asians,” according to the TikTok user. The TikTok video called for Eilish to be canceled by including the hashtag “#billieeilishcancelled,” but many of the star’s fans defended her amid the controversy.
Eilish, 19, apologized for lip-syncing to the song but said she was simply speaking in a “silly gibberish made up voice” in the other two clips.
“i love you guys, and many of you have been asking me to address this. And this is something that i WANT to address because I’m being labeled something that i am not,” Eilish began her apology, which she posted to her Instagram Stories.
The singer said she was 13 or 14 when she mouthed the slur “that at the time i didn’t know was a derogatory term used against members of the asian community. i am appalled and embarrassed and want to barf that i ever mouthed along to that word,” Eilish wrote.
Tyler, the Creator, 30, has meanwhile received no backlash despite the fact that he wrote the slur into the song.
Eilish added, “this song was the only time i’d ever heard that word as it was never used around me by anyone in my family. Regardless of my ignorance and age at the time, nothing excuses the fact is that it was hurtful. And for that i am sorry.”
The pop star denied mocking anyone’s accent, saying that “the other video in that edited clip is me speaking in a silly gibberish made up voice,” which she said is “something i started doing as a kid and have done my whole life when talking to my pets, friends, and family.”
“It is absolute gibberish and just me goofing around, and is in NO way an imitation of anyone or any language, accent, or culture in the SLIGHTEST,” she wrote. “anyone who knows me has seen me goofing around with voices my whole life.”
Eilish added that, “regardless of how it was interpreted i did not mean for any of my actions to have caused hurt to others and it absolutely breaks my heart that it is being labeled now in a way that might cause pain to people hearing it.”
She added, “i not only believe in, but have always worked hard to use my platform to fight for inclusion, kindness, tolerance, equity and equality. We all need to continue having conversations, listening and learning. I hear you and i love you. Thank you for taking the time to read this.”
Eilish is preparing to release her second studio album, Happier Than Ever, on July 30.