T.I. in time out? Clifford “T.I.” Harris Jr.’s daughter Deyjah Harris has reportedly unfollowed him on Instagram, the social media move coming in the wake of his controversial comments about her virginity.
The 18-year-old no longer follows T.I., his wife, Tameka “Tiny” Harris, and Tiny’s daughter Zonnique, according to Hollywood Unlocked.
The controversy started last week, after the three-time Grammy winner aired sensitive information from his daughter’s gynecologist visits on the November 5 episode of the “Ladies Like Us With Nazanin and Nadia” podcast.
“I will say as of her 18th birthday, her hymen is still intact,” he said at the time. “Not only have we had the conversation [about sex], we have yearly trips to the gynecologist to check her hymen.”
T.I. added that he arranges a gynecology appointment for Deyjah every year after her birthday.
“[When the doctors] 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,’ 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,’” he said on the podcast.
He also explained that his expectations for his children are gender-based. “I definitely feel different about a boy than about a girl,” he said. “That’s just the God’s honest truth. I don’t think there’s any father out there who’ll tell you any different.” (The rapper also has sons Messiah, 19, and Domani, 18, with ex Lashon Dixon, and he and Tiny are the parents of sons King, 15, and Major, 11, and daughter Heiress, 3.)
Amid outcry about the comments, podcast hosts Nazanin Mandi and Nadia Mohan deleted the episode and apologized for laughing during the interview. “To everyone confused, angry and hurt by the recent episode of ‘Ladies Like Us,’ we want to apologize for our knee jerk reaction to the uncomfortable topic,” they wrote in a joint statement. “We were completely caught off guard/shocked and looking back, we should have reacted much differently in the moment. The comments that were made and the reaction that followed are not in any way a reflection of our personal views on the topic.”
They continued: “We support and love Women and feel that their bodies are theirs to do as they wish. There was absolutely no ill intent towards any party involved & feel deeply awful about the entire incident. We are not perfect, take full accountability of our lack of action & are continuously learning along the way. We know an apology doesn’t make this go away but we welcome the discussion — that’s what our podcast is about.”
For her part, Deyjah “liked” two tweets criticizing T.I.’s behavior. One read, “This is disgusting, possessive and controlling. Whew.” The other asserted, “That is just beyond possessive.”
Deyjah also tweeted, “I loveeeeeee yalllllll,” on November 5, adding the pleading face emoji.
