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Is J Balvin racist? Singer apologizes for making Black women pose as dogs in ‘Perra’

The controversial 'Perra' video showed Balvin walking two Black women on leashes

J Balvin dropped the music video of his song ‘Perra’ from this new album ‘Jose’ on September 10 but soon found himself in a soup as he got brutally dragged on the Internet for using people of color as animals in the video. Even Colombia’s Vice President Marta Lucía Ramírez penned an official letter disgracing the video dubbing it as sexist, misogynistic and flat-out racist.

Looking at the backlash, the 36-year-old Colombian star pulled off the video from YouTube a few days ago. Now, only the audio is available on the Internet. Balvin later took to Instagram on Sunday, October 24 to apologize for the music video. For the unversed, the word ‘Perra’ translates to “b***h” in English. J Balvin’s latest song also features artist Tokischa who too apologized in a statement to Rolling Stone. Despite J Balvin apologizing on social media, many felt he was not sorry and his music was getting “shi**y each day.  
 
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Is J Balvin racist?

In the official music video, J Balvin is seen walking in a narrow lane with two Black women on leashes. In another still, a group of Black people were made to look like dogs as Tokischa posed alongside them in a doghouse. The video was helmed by Raymi Paulus. With an intention to set things right, the “Prince of Reggaeton” took to his Instagram with close to 50 million followers and said, “I want to say sorry to whomever felt offended, especially to the Black community. That's not who I am. I'm about tolerance, love and inclusivity. I also like to support new artists, in this case Tokischa, a woman who supports her people, her community and also empowers women."

He added, “As a form of respect, I removed the video eight days ago. But because the criticism continued, I'm here making a statement." Balvin concluded, “Mom, I'm sorry too. Life gets better each day. Thank you for listening to me”, as reported by Billboard. Tokischa too apologized during an interview with Rolling Stone magazine saying she was sorry for how the video was interpreted. The chorus of the song ‘Perra’ goes like, “I am a female dog in heat/ I'm looking for a dog to hit it/ Hey, you're a hot dog in heat/ And you are looking for a dog to hit it. The track debuted at number 48 on the Hot Latin Songs chart.

‘Your music getting more shi**y each day’

A majority of social media users got furious over Balvin’s new music video. On similar lines, one said, “Upload the video to pornhub, I’m tryna to watch it. YouTube took it down.” Whereas, another mentioned, “People are too damn sensitive these days. All this pandering for what, nothing.” One furious user claimed, “Balvin is a racist piece of s**t I don’t believe in him.”
 
The next one added, “@JBALVIN screw u dawg.. wtf seriously happened to u?? ur music getting more shi**y each day is one thing but being racist and sexist by portraying black women as inferior and objects for your own good?? are u seriously that sick in the head?? glad i don't stan you no more.” Another urged, “He's not sorry” as one concluded, “It’s a different culture! If you don’t like it, don’t watch!”