On Thursday evening, Rick Ross apologized for incendiary comments he made earlier this week about not signing women to his record label, Maybach Music Group.
In an interview with The Breakfast Club on Tuesday, the rapper and mogul said he never wanted to sign women because "I would end up fucking a female rapper and fucking the business up."
He went on to suggest that, if he were to sign a woman, he'd expect sexual favors in return for his support. "You know, she looking good, I'm spending so much money on her photo shoots, I gotta fuck a couple times," he said, responding to a question from Breakfast Club co-host Angela Yee. (8:45 in the video above).
People quickly objected to the remarks.
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It wasn't the first time Ross had been accused of misogyny. In 2013, he temporarily lost a sponsorship deal with Reebok after fans cried foul over lyrics that seemed to glorify date rape.
Though Ross's recent comments were treated as humorous on the radio show (at least by the men in the room), some said they amounted to explicit, if inadvertent, evidence of systemic sexism.
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Karen Civil, an independent hip-hop marketing executive, told BuzzFeed News that Ross had "pushed every stereotype that we as women, especially black women, have to deal with in this industry."
"There's always going to be that stigma of 'She slept her way to the top,' or '[Sex appeal] is all she's good for — we'll keep her around because she looks pretty,'" Civil said. "People [in the music business] look at you like a Christmas tree or an ornament."
In his apology, which he posted to Facebook, Ross said he had been "insensitive" and that he wants to "continue working with & supporting female artists."
He cited the prominent roles his mother and sister play in his own business, calling his remarks on The Breakfast Club "a mistake."
"My comment is not [a] reflection of my beliefs on the issue. A mistake I regret," he said. "I hope to use my mistake, my platform and the community to create positive discussion to implement change on a very important issue."
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