T.I. Has Incredibly Sexist Words About Women

Despite all the progress made toward gender equality regarding women in politics, there are still people out there with disconcerting viewpoints and an unfortunate platform to broadcast them on. Case in point, T.I.'s sexist remarks regarding Hillary Clinton, and on a more broader scale, women in general. Although T.I. has since released an apology for his statements, you still might want to sit down for this, because it's a doozy.

In a radio interview with DJ Whoo Kid, T.I. stated his opinions about the presidential candidate, and let me tell you, they were not good. The rapper doesn't disagree with Clinton in a "I wouldn't vote for her because I don't agree with her politics" kind of way, but rather in a "I wouldn't vote for her because and only because she's a woman" kind of way. The 35-year-old said, "Not to be sexist, but I can’t vote for the leader of the free world to be a woman."

I mean, this is a joke right? Is this T.I. being funny or attempting satire? Also, how many times has something terrible come out of the mouth of someone subsequently following the phrase "Not to be sexist, but...?" Probably too many to count. He continued, "Just because, every other position that exists, I think a woman could do well." Aw, thanks, T.I., for believing that I'm rational enough to be, like, anything that I want to be. As long as it's not too ambitious.

"But the president? It’s kinda like, I just know that women make rash decisions emotionally — they make very permanent, cemented decisions — and then later, it’s kind of like it didn’t happen, or they didn’t mean for it to happen," he explained. You mean like when someone made the rash decision to ask you about your political viewpoints and then immediately regretted doing so?

This is not a joke, though. This is the real life thought process of an artist with a microphone at this moment of time and one exceptionally skewed viewpoint of women. But, sadly, these kind of comments aren't just relentlessly archaic; they're discouraging, and they're damaging, and, frankly, they're a waste of an opportune moment to say something interesting or helpful, or in this case maybe just lucid.

The belief that women behave irrationally is so tone-deaf that it feels almost too ridiculous to even make a comment about such a sentiment. It makes me want to storm out of the room, splash water on my face, and return back to continue this article (I may or may not have actually done this). Because, seriously? How, how are we still talking about women with this way? In one final punch to the gut, the rapper concluded, "I think you might be able to the Lochness Monster elected before you could [get a woman].”

T.I. has since taken to Twitter to release an apology:

Since the trend of celebrities saying stupid things and apologizing for them seems to be pervasive in our culture right now, this comes as no surprise. His tweet seems genuine enough, but it also feels moot. I'm glad that T.I. has issued such a swift apology for his comments. Really, I am. But I would like to see him take it a step forward and actually think differently about women. In case he hasn't noticed, it's 2015.

Images: Giphy (3)