In an article published in the latest issue of Dutch fashion magazine Jackie, the magazine offers a little advice on how to dress like Rihanna without looking like the “ultimate niggerbitch.” That’s right. No typo there. Check out the full English translation below:
“She has street cred, she has a ghetto ass and she has a golden throat. Rihanna, the good girl gone bad, is the ultimate niggabitch and displays that gladly, and for her that means: what’s on can come off. If that means she’ll be on stage half naked, then so be it. But Dutch winters aren’t like Jamaican ones, so pick a clothing style in which your daughter can resist minus ten. No to the big sunglasses and the pornheels, and yes to the tiger print, pink shizzle and everything that glitters. Now let’s hope she won’t beat anybody up at daycare.”
Two hours ago, Jackie Editor in Chief Eva Hoeke posted the below apology on the magazine’s Facebook page:
Dear readers,
First: thanks for all your responses. We are of course very fed up over this and especially very
shocked. However I’m glad that we’re engaging in a dialogue on this page — not everybody does
that. Thanks for this. Other than that I can be brief about this: this should have never happened.
Period. While the author meant no harm — the title of the article was intended as a joke — it was a bad joke, to say the least. And that slipped through my, the editor-in-chief’s, fingers. Stupid, painful and sucks for all concerned. The author has been addressed on it, and now I can only ensure that these terms will no longer end up in the magazine. Furthermore I hope that you all believe there was absolutely no racist motive behind the choice of words. It was stupid, it was naive to think that this was an acceptable form of slang — you hear it all the time on tv and radio, then your idea of what is normal apparently shifts — but it was especially misguided: there was no malice behind it. We make our magazine with love, energy and enthusiasm, and it can sometimes happen that someone is out of line. And then you can only do one thing: apologize. And hope that others wish to accept it.
From the bottom of my heart I say it again: we never intended to offend anyone. And I mean that.
Regards,
Eva Hoeke
So, as editor in chief, Hoeke had no idea that this was offensive before running it and actually considered it a joke? In addition to being blatantly racist, calling Rihanna Jamaican (she’s from Barbados) and actually suggesting that mothers should dress their daughters like her, this article is just wrong from every angle.
According to our source in Holland, Jackie is a well known local fashion publication with a circulation of 57,700 copies per month.
(This all just makes me want Prosecco and vagina cupcakes. Le Sigh- Shannon)
