Rihanna is facing a mountain of backlash following the debut of her cover photo on Interview magazine, which features the singer dressed as a nun and posing in a provocative manner.
The image in question features the Grammy Award–winning singer wearing a nun’s habit, an unbuttoned white shirt, bright blue eyeshadow, and red lipstick. Small cross tattoos can be seen on Rihanna’s face and neck. The title of the interview is “Rihanna Is Ready to Confess.”
The backlash online included many commenters pointing out how often Christianity is mocked compared to other religions.
“Rihanna mocks Catholics. She’d never try this with Islam,” conservative commentator Chad Prather wrote on X. “Teach your children not to admire, follow, or listen to morons like this.”
“Should Interview Magazine and Rihanna try a similar photoshoot with a hijab?” another commenter wondered.
Should Interview Magazine and Rihanna try a similar photoshoot with a hijab?pic.twitter.com/9BIIQrzRlN
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) April 10, 2024
“That’s so brave Rihanna, now do Islam,” a third person added.
The singer references God several times throughout the interview but doesn’t mention her faith or religion specifically. When asked how many kids she wants, Rihanna responds, “As many as God wants me to have.” The interviewer asks if that means more than two. She says, “I don’t know what God wants, but I would go for more than two. I would try for my girl. But of course if it’s another boy, it’s another boy.”
This isn’t the first time the singer has received backlash for using Catholic imagery. The singer wore a bustier dress, coat, and bishop’s hat to the “Heavenly Bodies” themed Met Gala in 2018.
Some X users also pointed out how Rihanna apologized for offending Muslims in the past but has never done the same for Christians.
In 2020, she thanked Muslim fans for “pointing out a huge oversight that was unintentionally offensive in our Savage X Fenty show.” Rihanna had included a song that featured an Islamic verse, known as a Hadith, in her fashion show.
“I would more importantly like to apologize to you for this honest, yet careless mistake. We understand that we have hurt many of our Muslim sisters and brothers, and I’m incredibly disheartened by this!” she said at the time. “I do not play with any kind of disrespect toward God or any religion and therefore the use of this song in our project was completely irresponsible!” she wrote at the time on Instagram stories, per USA Today.