After being criticized for attacking rap and hip-hop in her memoir, “All That Is Bitter and Sweet,” Ashley Judd
is extending an olive branch along with a few points of clarification.
The backlash began after an excerpt from her book depicted the actress lobbing harsh words at the rap and hip-hop genres as well as artists Snoop Dogg and P. Diddy. While speaking about an AIDS awareness program she works with, Judd writes, "Along with other performers, YouthAIDS was supported by rap and hip-hop artists like Snoop Dogg and P. Diddy to spread the message...um, who? Those names were a red flag.”
Judd continued, “As far as I'm concerned, most rap and hip-hop music - with its rape culture and insanely abusive lyrics and depictions of girls and women as 'ho's' - is the contemporary soundtrack of misogyny.”
She concludes, "I believe that the social construction of gender - the cultural beliefs and practices that divide the sexes and institutionalize and normalize the unequal treatment of girls and women, privilege the interests of boys and men, and, most nefariously, incessantly sexualize girls and women - is the root cause of poverty and suffering around the world."
Now the 42-year-old says that in light of the many responses around the Web, she believes she should’ve framed her opinion a bit differently.
"The outcry regarding my remarks, 2 paragraphs of my 400+ page book, regarding hip hop and rap, has been as astounding as it is out of context...I have looked closely at the feedback I have received about those two paragraphs, and absolutely see your points, and I fully capitulate to your rightness, and again humbly offer my heartfelt amends for not having been able to see the fault in my writing, and not having anticipated it would be painful for so many. Crucial words are missing that could have made a giant difference,” she says in a post on GlobalGrind.com.
Judd asserts that those paragraphs should read: “Some hip hop, and some rap, is abusive. Some of it is part of the contemporary soundtrack [of] misogyny (which, of course, is multi-sonic). Some of it promotes the rape culture so pervasive in our world...I should have been clear...that I include hip-hop and rap as part of a much larger problem. It is beyond unfortunate that I am talking about some, for example, of Snoop Dogs’ lyrics, an assumption has been spread I was talking about every single artist in both genres."
She explains that if someone were to make generalizations about the music genres she grew up with, she too would feel slighted.
"My equivalent genres, as an Appalachian, an oppressed and ridiculed people, would be mountain music and bluegrass. Those genres tell the history, struggles, grief, soul, faith, and culture of my people. In imagining how I would feel if someone made negative generalizations about that music, I am deeply remorseful that anything I may have said in 'All That Is Bitter & Sweet' would hurt adherents of genres that represent their culture," Judd says.
The actress also clarifies that she was by no means trying to blame rap and hip-hop for "poverty, AIDS, and the whole of rape culture."
"Please, people. Seriously," she writes. "I am white, yes, but in spite of some allegations to the contrary, I am not an idiot. Gender inequality and rape culture were here a long before the birth of the genres and rage everywhere. "
But there's one thing Judd won't apologize for, and that's speaking out against hate and violence towards women and girls.
"Hatred of girls and women, I will oppose with spiritual and non-violent principles every day," she concludes, adding that the Twitter responses to her remarks included death threats. "Abuse and violence in any form, at any time, in any expression, are never okay. Period. I, and other girls and women, are not afraid of you. You can keep on hating, but I am going to keep on loving."
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