Cardi B has responded to accusations of cultural appropriation in a photo promoting her Reebok collaboration.
The rap star, who identifies as Catholic, was made to resemble the Hindu goddess Durga for the cover of Footwear News. In the image, which has since been removed from the publication's Instagram, she is holding a red sneaker. (Shoes can’t be worn in Hindu temples.)
“I didn’t mean to offend or disrespect anybody’s culture,” Cardi captioned a video posted to Instagram. “I can’t change the passed (sic) but I’ll be more cautious for the future.”
Cardi explained the creative team “told me I’d be a goddess that represents strength, femininity and liberation, and that is something I love, that I’m all about and I thought it was dope.”
She added: If people think I offended their culture or religion I want to say I’m sorry – that was not my intent. I wasn’t trying to be disrespectful, maybe I should have done my research.”
MORE: Rihanna Apologizes For Using Track Sampling Hadith
In the Footwear News interview, Cardi spoke about social media trolls. “Nowadays, you cannot even be real because if you don’t have the ‘popular answer,’ then it’s the wrong answer and it could just jeopardize so many things, which is sad because I want to speak my s**t,” she said.
“I want to be putting so many people in their place. There’s so many people that just have the most miserable comments and they want you to feel miserable with them. It’s so hard. My realness bothers them, [but] I don’t give a damn.”
Last month, Rihanna had to apologize for including a track that samples a Hadith in her Savage x Fenty show. Hadiths are records of the traditions or sayings of the Prophet Muhammad and are sacred to Muslims.