Rapper J Balvin apologises for Perra music video featuring Black women on leashes

J Balvin apologised for the music video and insisted ‘that’s not who I am’ (Picture: Getty)

Colombian rapper J Balvin has apologised for the music video for his newest song Perra, which depicts Black people on leashes and in dog houses.

The song, which features Dominican rapper Tokischa, shows Black women on all fours and being walked like dogs, with one woman licking Balvin’s face like an animal.

Other Black people were made up to look like dogs, and rapper Tokischa performed a verse while on all fours inside a doghouse.

Translated into English, Perra, the song’s title, means ‘Bitch’; Tokischa describes herself in her verse as a ‘dog in heat’.

The video was released on 7 September to instant backlash, and it was eventually removed from Youtube on October 17.

Now, a week later, Balvin – who is one of the biggest names in Latin music and has previously collaborated with Beyoncé and Cardi B – has apologised for the video.

The star took to Instagram where he issued an apology in Spanish.

Dominican rapper Tokischa featured in the song, where she performed a verse from inside a dog house (Photo by Rodrigo Varela/Getty Images)

According to the BBC, he apologised to ‘whomever felt offended, especially to the Black community’.

He insisted ‘that’s not who I am, I’m about tolerance, love and inclusivity’.

The rapper also said he also likes to ‘support new artists, in this case Tokischa, a woman who supports her people, her community and also empowers women’.

Balvin explained he had removed the video from Youtube out ‘respect’, but felt compelled to issue an apology as ‘the criticism continued’.

He also apologised to his mother, who reportedly recently told a Colombian news station she had scolded her son when she heard the song and said the man in the video was ‘not the Josésito I know’.

Up-and-coming rapper Tokischa also apologised and attempted to explain the thinking behind the video in an interview with Rolling Stone, saying the video was ‘conceptual’ and reflected the mention of dogs within the lyrics.

She said she was ‘sorry that people felt offended’, but ‘art is expression’.

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