Everybody loves Questlove. People of all ages, races, and creeds seem to love the guy for his style, openness and genuine persona. But even he, as social media savvy and hip as he is, can slip up.
For example, right now, the acclaimed drummer of The Roots is on tour with the band in Japan. As usual, he’s been documenting his journey on his popular social media accounts. Fans were stunned when a recent (and now deleted) Instagram post seemed to poke fun at a Japanese woman’s accent.
Quest says he was really just making a comparision of the woman’s vocal inflections “to that of a (church) deacon speaking in tongues.” It didn’t take long for him to realize that he missed the mark on that one.
Check out the post in question followed by his apology below.
“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 storeemployee’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.
-akt”
