On December 8, Rapper Twista posted an offensive meme on Instagram, pitching Gabourey Sidibe against model Bernice Burgos and asking his followers to make a choice.
Above the image of the Precious actress were a list of things meant to describe a successful woman, such as having a 401K, making $30 an hour, having a house and a car. Over the image of Burgos were a list of things meant to describe a less successful woman, such as being unemployed, homeless and not having a vehicle. Twista captioned the post, “Who y’all choosing A or B?”
Sidibe saw the post and dropped a comment: “Wow. I um… gee,” she wrote. “@twistagmg I only liked you as a rapper I forgot about in 2005. But good luck with option B!”
The Chicago rapper issued a long apology to the actress after the image posted on his social media page, went viral and people condemned the post as fatophobic and an offensive meme.
Twista told ‘TheShadeRoom’ that the post was ‘a mistake’ he didn’t spot as he was ‘travelling most of the day’.
Twista deleted the post and wrote:
“My true fans know my character!” he wrote. “I operate my page, but I also have other people with my company [who] do so as well. The mistake was made by an employee! Totally not my views or thought process! Everyone is beautiful in my eyes! And I also believe beauty starts from within! And I also believe your character and personality defines a person’s beauty more than their physical appearance!”
He continued, “@gabby3shabby has always been a beautiful Black woman to me! As soon as I saw the post I was upset and immediately corrected it! So, I apologize for letting something like this happen! Once again, it’s completely out of my character to have those kind of opinions or make those kind of posts!!!”
