Ari Lennox Apologizes For Bashing Gayle King And Oprah Winfrey, Leaves Social Media

Singer Ari Lennox has written a lengthy apology for earlier comments she made about Gayle King and Oprah Winfrey in the wake of King’s controversial interview with WNBA star Lisa Leslie.

King had been the subject of severe backlash after a clip of her interview hit the web in which she asked Leslie about her late friend Kobe Bryant’s legacy.

Soon after the clip was posted, many celebrities took to social media to criticize King and her BF Oprah, including Lil Boosie, 50 Cent, and most famously Snoop Dogg.

On February 6th, Lennox went on Instagram live to voice her opinion about Gayle and Oprah in a profanity-laced rant, calling them “some self-hating, pieces of sh*t f*ckasses.”

Lennox has since seemed to have a change of heart, taking to her Tumblr page to offer her heartfelt apology and announce she was leaving social media.

“I am sorry. I was acting like an ass,” she wrote, “I impulsively spiraled cause I was sick of seeing the distasteful shade, especially at such a terrible and sad time towards someone I know is a good person… I’m sorry for triggering people, and I’m sorry if I caused any trauma. Im sorry for victim shaming, swear that wasn’t my intent.” 

Lennox said that social media led to her words being misconstrued, explaining it’s not conducive to “healthy and productive conversations.”

For this reason, the “Shea Butter Baby” singer said she’s decided to leave social media. Her Twitter page has already been purged of everything except for the tweet with the link to her apology. “I’m excited to leave social media for good,” she wrote. “I’m excited for true self love, healing, understanding and peace. To all the people who checked me from a place of love, I love you forever and I hear you and I deeply empathize more than you’ll ever know. I would love to keep the conversation going in real life.”