T.I. On Deyjah's Virginity Controversy: 'I'm Willing To Go Above And Beyond' To Protect Black Women
T.I. appeared alongside his wife, Tiny Harris, on Jada Pinkett Smith's Facebook Watch series, Red Table Talk. The rapper chatted it up with Jada, and her mother, Adrienne Banfield Norris (though Willow Smith was noticeably absent from the episode).
During their intimate discussion, the group tackled Tip's controversial comments regarding his 18-year-old daughter Deyjah Harris' virginity.
As previously reported, the rapper sat down with Ladies Like Us co-hosts Nazanin Mandi and Nadia Moham and boasted about monitoring Deyjah's virginity during her OB/GYN visit.
"I said, 'Look, doc, she don't ride no horses, she don't ride no bike, she don't play no sports, man. Just check the hymen please and give me back my results, expeditiously," he recalled. "But I will say, as of her 18th birthday, her hymen is still intact."
While speaking with Smith and Norris, he opened up about why he's chosen to be so "protective" of his daughter and made some clarifications about his polarizing statements. He also added that he was surprised that the public took his comments "extremely literal."
The interview covered a lot of ground, so we broke it down to the most significant moments for you:
He says, while his comments were 'exaggerated,' he made them in the spirit of protecting Black women:
After admitting, at the beginning of the interview, that he made those offensive remarks in a joking manner, he claimed he "embellished and exaggerated" a bit while speaking of his routine visits to his daughter's OB/GYN. He later added that while he thought "people knew me better than that," he "understands it now."
He did stress, though, that he felt a duty to protect his daughter since Black women have a history of being disrespected.
“In the age or the time where our women, Black women, are the most unprotected, unattended, disregarded women on the planet, I’m being criticized because I’m willing to go above and beyond to protect mine. And I’m talking about all of the little slimy, grimy, chubby-fingered little boys who want to just come and defile and destroy the sanctity that I have…[he stopped and laughed]," he said. “Anything that is the most important to me in my life, I am going to deal with that with very extreme care, and I don’t understand how that is being looked at as so wrong.”
He clarified that he accompanied Deyjah at the OB/GYN but didn't enter the exam room:
After explaining that he does not understand how his protective nature as a father is "being looked at as so wrong," he reiterated that he was only accompanying his daughter to the doctor to protect her.
He did clarify, however, that "my intentions have been misconstrued," before stating that, despite how it sounded, he was not in the exam room with Deyjah, Tiny was, and this is not a practice they have continued now that Deyjah is an adult.
“Since she turned 18, I don’t have control on anything?” he said, before making one clarification. "I am not here to protect virginity. I just know that's a big move. Once you make that move, there are things that happen, that follow. You have to be equipped. Awareness is my first line of defense."
On the double standards of raising sons versus daughters:
When Norris introduced the double standard of him publicly admitting to being OK with his son losing his virginity, but not his daughter, he brought up a hypothetical situation in an attempt to prove his point.
“The stakes are higher [if my daughter gets pregnant as opposed to my son],” he said. “The whole household changes [if my daughter brings home a child].”
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He wants to protect his daughter from boys who 'defile and destroy'
After claiming that boys his daughter's age "defile and destroy," the "Whatever U Like" rapper said he is only trying to protect Deyjah from what is to come from "doing the do."
Smith, however, explained to him that "that's different," adding, "that's education."
On what motivated him to break his silence on the show, despite his daughter's wishes
After apologizing for sharing his daughter's personal affairs publicly, T.I. admitted that he is not offering an apology to those "strangers and weirdos who toss lies around for fun."
"I didn't get it [at first], but however, now I'm sensitive to it for her," he said before admitting that Deyjah just wanted him to "let it go" and no longer share his thoughts on the matter publicly.
However, he claimed his "different directors" told him to appear on Red Table Talk to set the record straight.
Watch the full interview, here.
