Billie Eilish is speaking out after a heavily edited mashup video that appeared to show her using an Asian slur gained traction on TikTok and with conservative media outlets.
In a statement Monday night, the 19-year-old “Lost Cause” singer both apologized for singing along to an offensive song lyric as a young teen and explained that it was deceptively placed side-by-side with an unrelated clip of her speaking in a “gibberish” voice.
The offensive lyric she mouthed was from a recording of her singing along to Tyler the Creator’s 2011 song “Fish,” she explained.
The full “Fish” verse containing the slur is, “Slip it in her drink and in the blink/of an eye I can make a white girl look c—k.”
“I love you guys, and many of you have been asking me to address this. And this is something I WANT to address because I’m being labeled something that I am not,” Eilish said in the statement posted on her Instagram story.
“There’s a video edit going around of me when I was 13 or 14 where I mouthed a word from a song that at the time I didn’t know was a derogatory term used against members of the Asian community. I am appalled and embarrassed and want to barf that I ever mouthed along to that word,” she said.
“This song is the only time I’d ever heard that word as it was never used around me by anyone in my family,” Eilish said. “Regardless of the ignorance and age at the time, nothing excuses the fact that it was hurtful. And for that I am sorry.”
She said the latter part of the mashup included another clip taken out of context to make it appear as though she had mocked an Asian accent when she had not.
“The other video in that edited clip is me speaking in a silly gibberish made up voice… something I started doing as a kid and have done my whole life when talking to my pets, friends, and family,” she explained.
“It is absolute gibberish and just me goofing around, and is in NO way imitation of anyone or any language, accent, or culture in the SLIGHTEST,” Eilish said.
“Anyone who knows me has seen me goofing around with voices my whole life,” she wrote.
“Regardless of how it was interpreted I did not mean for any of my actions to have caused hurt to others and it absolutely breaks my heart that it is being labeled now in a way that might cause pain to people hearing it. I not only believe in but have always worked hard to use my platform to fight for inclusion, kindness, tolerance, equity and equality,” Eilish added.
