Cardi B Speaks Out After Backlash For Calling Met Gala Designer 'Asian' Instead Of By His Name

Cardi B experienced a wave of criticism following her remarks about the Asian designer behind her dress at the 2024 Met Gala. In an interview with Vogue's Emma Chamberlain on Monday evening, the rapper referred to the designer, Sensen Lii, but never mentioned their name.

The rapper said:

"It's this amazing designer. They're Asian and everything."

You can hear what she said in the video below.

Many social media users found Cardi's statement racially insensitive and disrespectful.

The backlash prompted the rapper to release a video response on Instagram, which she later deleted. It later resurfaced—giving people the opportunity to hear her explanation.

She said:

"I see a lot of you guys fake gagging on Twitter but I want to make this very clear."

"When I was on the red carpet, I was very scared because the dress was supposed to be on a little podium and I've been practicing how to pose on the podium, but at the carpet I wasn't allowed to use the podium. So I had a lot of things on my mind and I was being rushed to the front of the line."

"So when I was getting interviewed, I kind of forgot to pronounce the designer's name because his name is a little bit complicated. So I was like, 'Damn, how to pronounce his name!' Like, my mind was just racing."

She emphasized that she didn't intend to offend by identifying the designer by his ethnicity and not his name:

"I said 'Asian designer' because I knew the designer was Asian but I didn't, I wasn't sure what nationality the designer was. And I feel like it's offensive if I was to be like, 'Oh, some Chinese designer' or 'some Korean designer' or 'some Vietnamese designer.'"

"I don't want to get somebody's nationality mixed up so I said 'an Asian designer." I didn't mean to be offensive or to get your little speedos in a bunch. But I do feel like, as a person who works in fashion, I feel like the designer and my stylist work really hard so for you to get shady and act offended or whatever." ...

"You're trying to offend me but you're actually affecting the people behind the scenes. You're actually offending the people who spent hours and hours on phone calls and on Zoom and money on these designs just because you got offended by a comment that I made."

But judging by the reactions, it was clear Cardi B hadn't done herself any favors.

Stay tuned on whether Cardi B responds to the latest wave of backlash.