LSU's Flau'jae Johnson Breaks Silence After 9/11 Rap Backlash
LSU basketball star Flau'jae Johnson addressed the backlash she's facing with a short statement Thursday night.
The young basketball star has been facing criticism after she flippantly rapped about the Twin Towers coming down on 9/11 in a new song she dropped and later deleted earlier in the week.
LSU originally released a statement claiming "she expressed sincere remorse for any possibility of a misunderstanding and immediately took the video down." However, she later liked tweets seeming to indicate she wasn't remorseful at all.
Flau'jae Johnson shows contrition after serious backlash.
To Johnson's credit, she finally addressed the situation and appeared to be genuinely sorry for rapping about 9/11 in a manner many found offensive.
"I just want to come on here and let you all know by no means would I ever intentionally disrespect or offend anyone. My whole goal in music is to push positivity and spread love. In no way shape or form would I intentionally disrespect or offend anyone. I'm definitely going to learn from this moving forward, and I just thank you all for your continued support," Johnson told her followers in a short video posted on her Instagram story.
You can watch her full statement below.
Credit to Johnson for stepping up and addressing the situation as an adult should.
As I wrote in the previous coverage of Johnson's lyrics, there's no reason to call for anyone to be canceled. That doesn't help anyone.
The LSU basketball star wasn't alive when 9/11 happened, and she clearly doesn't understand the gravity and severity of the situation. Families were destroyed September 11, 2001 when thousands of innocent Americans were murdered by terrorists.
In the decades that followed, men and women deployed to take the fight to the enemy. Many died and countless returned home different than they left. It's simply not a funny situation, and it appears she now understands that.
It's never easy admitting you made a big mistake, especially when it happens on the public stage. Should Johnson have stepped up and released this statement right away? Yes, but better late than never. She took responsibility as you'd expect from an adult, and while her flippant lyrics were highly offensive to many, Flau'jae Johnson deserves credit for stepping up, putting her hand up and addressing the situation.
We all screw up from time to time. This mistake was a bad one, but it's also a learning experience. I sincerely hope she meets with some 9/11 families or veterans groups. She might learn some stories that impact her in a big way. For now, it appears everyone is ready to move on after a few days of extreme backlash. Lesson learned. No need to make the situation worse.