J. Cole apologizes to families affected by autism
After dissing other rappers and calling them “autistic, retarded” in a new song, J. Cole, 28, issued a heartfelt apology on his blog. Cole apologized to families affected by autism after a petition was started against him. Actress Holly Robinson Peete, whose son suffers from autism, called him out over the lyric prompting the rapper to respond.
“This was first brought to my attention by my son, who is 15, with autism, loves J.Cole, loves Drake. He brought it [up] to me, because he looks at all the lyrics. He said, ‘Mom what does this mean?’ ” Holly Robinson Peete previously told “Access Hollywood.”
“And I was so devastated when I read it, I had to read it like five times and try to find some other context where this could make sense, ’cause everything I know about J. Cole is that he’s a very intelligent man, he went to college, he graduated top of his class. He’s a very smart rapper and I understand the artistic expression and everything, but this right here is so irresponsible. It hurt my feelings so much,” she added.
Now with the offensive line in the spotlight, Cole issued an apology on his DreamVillian blog. According to Cole, however, his words are sincere and not just the result of public pressure.
“Recently there’s been a trend that includes rappers saying something offensive, only to be attacked for it in the media and pressured to apologize. I have to be completely honest and say there’s a part of me that resents that,” said Cole.
“I do not believe that an apology is needed every time someone is offended, especially when that apology is really only for the sake of saving an endorsement or cleaning up bad press. With that said, this is not the case today. This letter is sincere. This apology IS necessary,” he added.
In a recent verse on the song “Jodeci Freestyle,” I said something highly offensive to people with Autism. Last week, when I first saw a comment from someone outraged about the lyric, I realized right away that what I said was wrong,” said Cole.
The rapper also personally apologized to people with autism and said he wanted to learn more about the condition.
On the track “Jodeci Freestyle”, a new song by Drake, J. Cole raps, “Go check the numbers dummy, that’s just me gettin’ started/ I’m artistic, you n—- autistic, retarded.”
J. Cole’s apology in full can be read here.
–danielle canada
