Sexyy Red Faces Backlash For AI MLK Pics, Apologizes To Bernice King

Sexyy Red totally missed the mark with this one! On Monday (Jan. 20), she shared an AI-made photo of Martin Luther King Jr. on social media to celebrate his holiday. But Bernice King, Dr. King’s daughter, wasn’t having it. On Jan. 21, she called out the rapper and even asked her to delete the fake photo.

“This is intentionally distasteful, dishonoring, deplorable, and disrespectful to my family and my father, who is not here to respond himself because he was assassinated for working for your civil and human rights and to end war and poverty,” Bernice wrote.

The AI-generated photo in question? It showed Sexyy Red and Martin Luther King Jr. holding hands and gazing at each other. Whether it had a caption is unclear because by Tuesday evening, it was gone from Sexyy’s X (formerly Twitter) account.

But wait, there’s more! Sexyy also shared another AI picture of her standing next to Dr. King at a fake protest with the caption, “Happy MLK Day!!”

Not long after her first post, Bernice clapped back again—this time at people twisting her words. She made it clear that her issue wasn’t personal beef with Sexyy Red.

“Please don’t project your thoughts onto me. I don’t believe Sexyy Red to be a ‘degenerate,’ ‘ghetto,’ or ‘trash.’ I have spoken out in the past about the use of and comparison to either of my parents to denigrate other people. I just don’t understand this type of use of my father’s image (on #MLKDay, no less) in a way that does not convey what we know to be true about his service and sacrifice. Even if you disagree with him or with his tactics or even believe things said about him by people who hated him, why do this?”

After the backlash, Sexyy Red removed the images and apologized. “You ain’t wrong, never meant to disrespect your family my apologies. Just reposted something I saw that I thought was innocent,” she wrote on X.