T.I. is “incredibly apologetic” to his daughter Deyjah Imani Harris, after he claimed he takes her to the gynaecologist every year to check she’s still a virgin.
As reported by The Sauce, the 39-year-old rapper came under fire earlier this month when he admitted he takes his 18-year-old daughter to the gynaecologist every year to make sure her hymen is still intact.
He has now extended his apologies for his comments but insisted he’s only apologising to Deyjah, and not the “weirdos” who he claims have been “tossing lies around” about him and twisting his words.
He said: “There was never any objection. She did have a problem with me talking about it, however. And I understand that, and I am incredibly apologetic to her for that. To her. Not to any of these other strangers, any of the weirdos, who just kind of toss lies around for fun. She understands my intentions, and she knows who I am. She knows who I’ve always been. And I think that allows a certain level of understanding.”
The ‘Live Your Life’ hitmaker went on to insist he’d made his comments as a “joke”, and slammed his critics for taking his words seriously.
He explained: “I came to clear up any misconceptions that have been surrounding how we interact and parent, and what is appropriate and inappropriate. I think all of this surrounds a conversation I was having in a very joking manner when asked how I deal with parenting in this day and age. From a place of truth, I began to embellish and exaggerate and I think a lot of people took it extremely literal.”
T.I. who also has three-year-old daughter Heiress, as well as sons Messiah, 19, Domani, 18, Clifford, 15, and Major, 11 – claims his comments didn’t come from a place of trying to control his daughter.
Speaking during an interview with Jada Pinkett Smith for her Facebook Watch show ‘Red Table Talk’, he said: “I am here to protect all of the children from themselves until they make it to a point where they have awareness, a sense of self and discernment to be able to make certain decisions on their own that will impact their lives indefinitely. I’m not there to protect necessarily virginity, I just know that is a big move.”
T.I. made his original comments on ‘Ladies Like Us’ podcast, where the rapper whose songs often feature lyrics about sex opened up about accompanying Deyjah to her annual check-up.
He said: “We’ll go and sit down and the doctor will come and talk and the doctor’s maintaining a high level of professionalism. He’s like, ‘Well, you know sir, I have to, in order to share information’ – I’m like, ‘Deyjah, they want you to sign this … so we can share information. Is there anything you would not want me to know?’ ‘See doc? No problem.’
“So then they come and say, ‘Well, I just want you to know that there are other ways besides sex that the hymen can be broken, like bike riding, athletics, horseback riding, and just other forms of athletic physical activity.’
“So I say, ‘Look doc, she don’t ride no horses, she don’t ride no bike, she don’t play no sports. Just check the hymen please and give me back my results expeditiously.’ ”
The ‘What You Know’ hitmaker will be headlining the 2019 edition of the Jameson Connect party on the 7th of December at the Uhuru Gardens.
