Skepta won’t let his art be “policed” after backlash over the “Gas Me Up (Diligent)” artwork.
The rapper has apologized and promised to be “more mindful” after the cover art for the song featured a group of men with shaved heads, with one having a tattoo with the words “Gas Me Up” on his head.
The image prompted fierce backlash as people saw parallels between the photograph and the Holocaust, which saw the deaths of Jewish people in gas chambers at the hands of the Nazis during World War II.
“I’ve been waiting to drop ‘Gas Me Up (Diligent)’ since teasing it April last year, worked hard getting the artwork right for my album rollout, which is about my parents coming to the U.K. in the ’80s, [with its] Skinhead, football culture. [I]t has been taken offensively by many, and I can promise you that was definitely not our plan, so I have removed it and … vow to be more mindful going forward,” Skepta said in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter.
He later confirmed the release would go ahead “as planned.” Skepta shared images of 1990s skinhead culture and explained that while he can appreciate why it could be “deemed offensive,” it wasn’t his goal.
“I can honestly see how my single artwork without context can be deemed offensive, especially in a time like this but again that was not my intention,” Skepta wrote. “But after some thought, I don’t feel like I could continue being the artist you all know and love if my art is policed. I have to quit if I can’t express my art as I see it. So, to help with context, here are some pictures from our mood board for the 1980s U.K. story for my album Knife Fork.”
“‘Gas Me Up (Diligent)’ will be out Jan. 26 as planned,” he added.
