Rapper T.I. went on Jada Pinkett Smith’s The Red Table Talk to explain the controversial comments he made about his daughter’s hymen on a podcast.
What We Know:
- T.I. appeared in the episode with his wife Tiny Harris. Smith wastes no time, quickly bringing up the controversy. A clip of T.I.’s comments plays early in the episode where he is heard saying, “Not only have we had the conversation, we have yearly trips to the gynecologist to check her hymen.”
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T.I. states that he was having the conversation in a “joking manner”. He continued, “From a place of truth, I began to embellish and exaggerate and I think that a lot of people kinda took it extremely literal… I honestly thought that people knew me better than that.”
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He goes on to clear up some aspects of his story that he feels the public misinterpreted. He says, “I never said I was in any exam room, I never said it was being done present day, I never said that her mother wasn’t present.” He feels that the story has been sensationalized.
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He explains his comments saying, “I am there to protect all of the children from themselves until they make it to the point when they have awareness, a sense of self, and discernment… I’m not there to protect, necessarily virginity, but that’s a big move…” He continues, “She should definitely be afraid of what could potentially come from, you know, doing the do… the dangers of pregnancy, the dangers of diseases, the dangers of just having your heart broken.”
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The conversation shifts to his daughter’s reaction to his statements and T.I. explains that she was embarrassed and upset. He apologized directly to his daughter during the talk. He says that the reason he came on the show was because she asked him to publicly address it, hoping to put the story behind her.
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Toward the end of the talk, he admitted that he doesn’t understand some of the controversy surrounding his statements and discussed his misunderstanding of feminism and patriarchy. Pinkett-Smith educates him about both of these terms.
- He and his wife will be featured in next week’s episode to discuss their marriage.
T.I. genuinely seemed open to talking about his comments and stated that difficult conversations are necessary for growth. Hopefully, he will continue to have these conversations and gain a better understanding of womanhood.
