Tyga Apologizes For ‘Ay Caramba’ Music Video
Tyga is apologizing for his music video for “Ay Caramba” after receiving backlash for promoting Mexican stereotypes.
Speaking with Power 106 Los Angeles and American Cholo podcaster Gil, who has been critical of the video, Tyga said he didn’t want to hurt anyone with the video. Gil pointed out that the visual has been accused of depicting racist caricatures, as it opens with Tyga playing a character in a fat suit eating chips and guacamole.
“I had no intentions of offending anybody… I want to apologize to the Mexican community and my fans that are Mexican,” he told Gil and the Los Angeles Lakers program.
The “Rack City” rapper said that despite receiving criticism over the latest project, not all of his Latin fans were upset, seemingly suggesting that he may have gotten approval from community members. “I have a lot of Latin fans that are Puerto Rican, Dominican, that probably weren’t offended by this video, but my Mexican fans in L.A., there definitely was some that were offended,” he said.
Critics on social media did not appear to be moved by the 32-year-old’s justification, including one Twitter user who wrote, “Imagine Mexicans dressed up as Africans and did African songs and dances lmao mannnnn,” wrote one person.
Another online user declared, “Apology not accepted.”
While addressing the controversial character in the visual, Tyga claimed the fat suit character was intended to be a reference to the film Nutty Professor, starring legendary comedian Eddie Murphy, before adding that he felt perplexed by the negative response following its release.
“I was really just confused; I wasn’t making this video to be offensive; I was really making this video to be creative. The whole concept of the video was just different Latin things; it wasn’t like a Mexican-themed video,” he added. “The character is just me in a fat suit. The character is not even Mexican. This character was literally a reference from … Nutty Professor. There’s a scene from Nutty Professor where he has the same kind of sweat suit on.”
Gil responded that even with no racist intent, it still came off as disrespectful. “I grew up my whole life in Mexican culture, being in L.A., so it’s kind of hard for me to separate the two.”
Tyga added that he was “hurt” that it offended some of his fans. “With this video, I can understand now where you’re coming from. It was meant to be a funny video, but not make fun of.”
The rapper has since removed the video from YouTube, which had already garnered millions of views.
Watch the entire interview segment below.
