Last week fans at a concert in London were quick to accuse rapper Drake of “racism” and Islamophobia after he told a woman that she should remove her “hot a** scarf.” Someone posted a video of the incident on social media, and it quickly began circulating and picking of angry comments from people who saw it.
The person who shot the video claimed that the woman Drake was addressing was wearing a traditional hijab, but Drake says it’s not true.
Drake was referencing a winter scarf
The problem with the video was that it doesn’t show the woman who was being addressed by the rapper. Most assumed without being able to see the woman that his reference to a “scarf” was about a hijab, and it would be extremely offensive to ask a Muslim woman to remove it However, Drake said the woman he was speaking to was wearing a coat and winter scarf. In a statement posted on his Instagram account over the weekend, he said he would never disrespect a Muslim woman by asking her to remove her hijab.
“I am well aware of what a hijab is and I would never make a disrespectful comment like that in my life towards someone who is wearing one. I am proud that my closest friends and fans come from all different religions and races, perhaps whoever made up this story should spend more time learning about other cultures and less time trying to divide us.”
He also called the scarf incident a “fake media story.”
Drake speaks out against Trump’s “Muslim ban”
The rapper’s comments about the scarf incident came on the heels of a strong speech denouncing the so-called “Muslim ban,” in which U.S. President Donald Trump is trying to bar travelers from several Muslim-majority countries. According to the Mirror, he slammed the president in the middle of a performance at the London O2 Arena. He feels Trump is trying to tear the world apart but noted that the fans at the concert were from “all races and all places.” He also said one man would not tear the world apart.
