Drummer, DJ and producer Questlove has issued an apology following a post that received heat on his Instagram page. Questlove is no stranger to controversy. He confessed in his memoirs “Mo Metta Blues” that his witty banter (both spoken and played) has landed him in hot water on several occasions.
As the man responsible for the walk on music for “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon”, Questo played the song “Lyin’ Ass Bitch” as Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann walked on stage. On a separate occasion he publicly chided Tina Fey for not waving at his band when she visited the show saying, “Be nice to The Roots.” Lorne Michaels, executive producer of “Late Night,” was not happy at the jab. Questo later apologized for both incidents.
According to Euroweb.com, Questlove’s most recent faux pas made light of Japanese people speaking English when he was on one of his many trips to the country. He wrote to his manager Dawn Englehart on his Instagram page, “hey @dawnenglehart is it racist for me to write the Sour Tlain? #chipanesedownunder2013″ next to a photo of a toy train he’d spotted.
Fans and followers expressed their disappointment in his lack of tact and not-so-subtle racial humor. Making matters worse , he also posted an Instagram video of a woman speaking Japanese, with his own spoken intro: “Ladies and gentlemen, they are talking in tongues.”
After backlash from Instagram followers and realizing that he may have very well alienated an entire nation of fans, Questlove took to his Facebook page on Thursday to apologize for the comments, insisting he meant no offense.
He posted: “ok. addressing the elephant in the room on christmas. unfortunately, i’ve offended my asian brothers & sisters with an IG post which i made during my recent tour of japan. in that post, i likened a japanese department store employee’s vocal intonation to that of a (church) deacon speaking in tongues. clearly, i didn’t intend to offend anyone (asian or otherwise), clearly, i *thought* that comparison was funny-cute… and clearly i thought wrong.
in hindsight, it’s easy to see how my post was yet another example of the ugly, american flipping yet another ugly/racially/culturally insensitive script. so, let me make this abundantly clear….
THE ISH THAT I SAID WAS DUMB (PERIOD).
And no, it wasn’t Duck Dynasty/Phil Robertson mean spirited-xenophobic dumb (but the last time i checked, sleep was still the cousin of death)
—look. i’m a human being and dumber yet, i’m a public figure. if you’re lucky enough to be either of the aforementioned, then not only should one stay clear of saying or writing hurtful things, one should actively work against feeling comfortable, thinking hurtful thoughts. given that black culture consistently finds itself at the butt end of so many offensive “outsider” jokes, I should be way, way more sensitive (after all, who’s zooming who). I for one, should never allow my cultural bias to take precedence over my “examined life” (clunkers be damned). i know the whole kinder and gentler thing reeks of a self serving political correctness, but eff it, it’s “all me”.
so, here i am once again, publicly coming to terms with some more of my stupid “say, say, say” ish. allow me to ask for forgiveness and understanding from anyone that i’ve offended. I will be better in 2014 (i promise)
-thank you.
