Rick Ross is facing criticism for his controversial lyric on Rocko's new track, "U.O.E.N.O," in which the 37-year-old Mississippi native raps, “Put molly all in her champagne, she ain’t even know it. I took her home and I enjoyed that, she ain’t even know it."
Ross apologized for anything "interpreted as rape" over Twitter Thursday, as a women's rights group promised to protest a Manhattan Reebok store in the hopes of persuading the company to drop its endorsement deal with the artist.
I dont condone rape.Apologies for the #lyric interpreted as rape. #BOSS
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— Mastermind (@rickyrozay) April 4, 2013
"By holding Rick Ross up as something to aspire to, Reebok is sending the message that raping a woman is cool," Ultra Violet wrote on their petition. "And that's a dangerous message to send the boys and young men that Reebok markets to. This is what rape culture is."
With his endorsement deal in danger, Ross also issued a Twitter apology directly to Reebok:
Apologies to my many business partners,who would never promote violence against women. @reebokclassics @ultraviolet
He attempted to quell the controversy in an interview with New Orleans radio station Q 93.3 last week, saying that "Woman is the most precious gift known to man."
"There was a misunderstanding with a lyric, a misinterpretation. I would never use the term 'rape' in my records and as far as my camp. Hip-hop don't condone that, the streets don't condone that, nobody condones that. So I just wanted to reach out to all my queens that's on my timeline, all the sexy ladies, the beautiful ladies that have been reaching out to me with the misunderstanding: We don't condone rape, and I'm not with that."
Rapper Talib Kweli called Ross' radio apology "unacceptable" in an interview with HuffPost Live on Monday.
"Rick Ross condoned rape in that song," she said. "He should apologize, and his apology that he offered was unacceptable."