Two things in life are inevitable: If your parents are in your life, they will always consider you their child—literally and figuratively—and as such, they will inevitably embarrass the shit out of you, especially if you’re connected to them on social media. But while posting pics of you in your diapers may be cringeworthy, publicly discussing the state of your hymen is a different issue entirely. For many of us who were mortified to hear rapper T.I. does exactly that during a now-deleted episode of Apple’s Ladies Like Us podcast (h/t Fox News), it was tantamount to abuse (as countless commenters let us know when we reported on the story last week).
At the time, T.I., born Clifford Harris, Jr. (which means “He Who Lacks Boundaries” in Swahili—no? You sure?), boasted about taking his 18-year-old daughter Deyjah Harris to annual gynecological appointments to “check her hymen.” But after being publicly humiliated, it looks like Deyjah’s not currently checking for her famous father, as the self-named “Princess of da South” has apparently unfollowed T.I., stepmother Tiny (Tameka Cottle) and her stepsister, Zonnique Pullins on Instagram. (Sidebar: Whose job is it to monitor things like this?)
As reported by E! News:
While the exact timing of the social media move is unclear, some speculate it came after the 39-year-old rapper said he attends the 18-year-old celebrity’s gynecologist appointments to “check her hymen”...
While Deyjah has yet to publicly address her father’s remarks, she recently liked a series of tweets calling his actions “disgusting,” “possessive” and “controlling.” She also tweeted, “I loveeeeeee yalllllll” and received an outpouring of support from her fans.
I mean...can you blame her? Contrary to being the virtual chastity belt he likely hoped it’d be, T.I.’s lack of discretion led to prolonged public discourse about Deyjah’s undercarriage and sexual agency—not to mention any number of unwelcome, anonymous and likely disgusting offers to “deflower” his college-aged daughter. (Not safe, Dad. Not safe.)
The good news? While her father knows no boundaries, Deyjah clearly knows how to set some. In fact, some might say blocking folks on social media acts as kind of a virtual hymen of its own. T.I. has yet to comment further on his controversial remarks, but at the very least, an equally public apology to his child is warranted. Since he needs to do so “expeditiously,” we’ll drop one here from Ladies Like Us co-host Nazanin Mandi (also the wife of singer Miguel) as an example.