'My boyfriends have been rappers': Lana Del Rey's comments on race prompt outrage

'My boyfriends have been rappers': Lana Del Rey's comments on race prompt outrage
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Lana Del Rey has come under fire for a "tone-deaf" comment defending herself against accusations of racial insensitivity and tokenism after publishing the artwork for her new album Chemtrails Over The Country Club

The singer wrote a lengthy and slightly garbled comment on the subject of diversity,  seemingly in response to an unknown commenter who may have accused her of performatively including people of colour in the album artwork. 

"Damn! As it happens when it comes to my amazing friends and this cover yes there are people of colour on this record's picture and that's all I'll say about that but thank you [sic]," she wrote in the since-deleted message, which has been republished on multiple news outlets.

"My beautiful friend Valerie from Del Rio Mexico, my dearest friend Alex and my gorgeous friend Dakota Rain as well as my sweetheart Tatiana. These are my friends this is my life. We are all a beautiful mix of everything - some more than others, which is visible and celebrated in everything I do."

Del Rey insisted that she had always been "extremely inclusive without even trying to" during her 11 years in the music industry. 

"My best friends are rappers my boyfriends have been rappers. My dearest friends have been from all over the place," she wrote. 

The 'Summertime Sadness' hitmaker then made reference to the recent siege on the US Capitol, perpetrated by Trump supporters and a variety of white supremacist hate groups in an attempt to overthrow the election results. 

"So before you make comments again about a WOC/POC issue, I'm not the one storming the Capitol, I'm literally changing the world by putting my life and thoughts and love out there on the table 24 seven. Respect it," she concluded. 

Del Rey's statement quickly prompted ridicule and outrage from social media users, many of whom mocked the Grammy nominee's claims and questioned her sentiments. 

"Lana del Rey could've literally released the album silently but she had to remind us that she's changing the world one rapper boyfriend at a time," one Twitter user wrote. 

"'Racism doesn’t exist because I dated rappers' is the most tone-deaf shit," said another. 

"Lana Del Rey really used the failed coup to promote her album,"  a third offered. 

Another called the statement "racist stream of consciousness sentence fragments". 

Last year, Del Rey insisted she was "definitely not racist" after causing controversy by suggesting there was a double standard in the music industry that allowed artists like Cardi B, Doja Cat, Nicki Minaj and Beyonce to write hit songs about "being sexy, wearing no clothes, f**king and cheating" while she was accused of "glamouring abuse" in her songs.