Cardi B Apologizes for Posing as Hindu Goddess

Cardi B's latest magazine cover did not go over well, and the rapper is now apologizing. She posed as the Hindu goddess Durga for Footwear News (the Hindu has a picture), with eight arms surrounding her, including one that holds a shoe, promoting Cardi B's new Reebok footwear line. As USA Today reports, the eight arms were meant to represent the Hindu goddess of war, strength, and protection—Footwear News compared the rapper to Durga by name in a since-deleted Instagram post—and it was quickly called cultural appropriation. "I wasn’t trying to be disrespectful," Cardi B said in an Instagram story Wednesday that can be watched here. "Maybe I should’ve done my research. And I’m sorry I can’t change the past but I’m gonna do more research for the future."

"When I did the shoot, the creatives told me I was going to represent a goddess; that she represents strength, femininity and liberation, and that’s something I love and I’m all about," the rapper continued. "And I thought it was dope, but if people think I’m offending their culture or their religion I want to say that was not my intent. I do not like offending anyone’s religion; I wouldn’t like it if someone did it to my religion." Some critics were particularly upset it was a footwear promo, since people take off their shoes before entering a Hindu temple. (More Cardi B stories.)