Source: Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty
After receiving backlash following the release of the music video for his song “Perra” — in which Black women are portrayed as dogs — Colombian music artist J Balvin recently issued a public apology for the problematic visuals.
According to Billboard, the artist explained that the video didn’t intentionally aim to promote racist and or colorist ideals. Moreover, Balvin said he continuously tries to uplift women, which is why he chose Dominican newcomer to the music scene, Tokischa, to feature on the track.
“I want to say sorry to whomever felt offended, especially to the Black community,” Balvin said to his fans and followers in a video apology shared to his Instagram Stories on Oct. 24, which was later translated from Spanish to English.
“That’s not who I am,” Blavin said about the music video’s problematic nature. “I’m about tolerance, love and inclusivity. I also like to support new artists, in this case Tokischa, a woman who supports her people, her community and also empowers women.”
While it is unclear whether YouTube or Balvin himself removed the “Perra” music video from the video-sharing platform, the visuals for the track are no longer available to view. Balvin said he removed the video eight days ago “as a form of respect” following the continuous criticism he received.
In various scenes from the music video, Black women are on their hands and knees portraying dogs with leashes around their necks (handled by Balvin as seen in snapshot). They also wore animalistic, doggy-inspired prosthetic makeup. Hitting number 48 on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart, the chorus of “Perra” translates to:
“I am a female dog in heat/I’m looking for a dog to hit it/ Hey, you’re a hot dog in heat/ And you are looking for a dog to hit it/”
Via a press statement released on Oct. 11, Columbia’s vice president and chancellor, Marta Lucía Ramírez, condemned the song’s visuals as “sexist, racist, machista, and misogynistic.” More interestingly, Balvin’s mother has spoken out against the “Perra” music video in a recent interview as well.
“When I found out [about “Perra”], I called him [Balvin]… [and asked], “Where is the Josésito that I know?” the reggaeton star’s mother told Cosmovisión, a Colombian news station. “That song is not … I don’t even know what to say. I did not see my José anywhere.”
The music video dropped in mid-October, following the release of Balvin’s sixth album, Jose, which came out last month. Tokischa, who is of African descent, has also received backlash for her involvement in the song and its visuals as an Afro-Latina preformer. In the music video, she’s seen in the dog house and eating from a dog bowl.
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While speaking with Rolling Stone, the Dominican artist said that she thought the “Perra” visuals were how a creative person would bring the song to life, and that she didn’t have a say in the video being removed from YouTube.
“It was very conceptual. If you, as a creative, have a song that’s talking about dogs, you’re going to create that world,” Tokischa said of her stance on the music video to the outlet.
The music video’s director, Raymi Paulus, noted:
“The Dominican Republic is a country where most of the population is Black and our Blackness is predominant in underground scenes, where the filming took place, and which was the subject of the video’s inspiration. “Perra” was a video filmed in the neighborhood, with people from the neighborhood, and the use of people of color in “Perra” was nothing more than the participation of our people in it.”
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While it’s unfathomable how any of the parties involved thought depicting Black women as dogs “in heat” would be acceptable in any fashion — considering the history of Black women being hyper-sexualized and portrayed in animalistic ways as a means of keeping them “othered” and treated as less than — this latest scandal is unfortunate yet unsurprising.
In light of those behind the music video shirking their poor and problematic choices in the name of art and authenticity to the “neighborhood,” all we can say is — do better.
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