April 16, 2008 13:21

Alicia Keys denies being a racist

Singer releases statement regarding recent interview

Grammy award-winning songstress Alicia Keys has released a statement after Blender Magazine published an article which she felt misrepresented her.

She claims the piece allegedly makes her out to be a racist and conspiracy theorist.

In the statement Keys said: "Anyone who knows me and my character, knows that I am not a conspiracy theorist or, by implication, a racist."

Keys was quoted in the magazine's May issue saying: "Gangsta rap was a ploy to convince black people to kill each other. Gangsta rap didn't exist." She also is quoted as saying that she wears a gold AK-47 pendant around her neck "to symbolize strength, power and killing 'em dead".

However the singer has since declared that her comments about "gangsta rap" were not trying to suggest that the government is responsible for its creation.

She said: "The point that I was trying to make was that the term [gangsta rap] was over-sloganised by some of the media causing reactions that were not always positive."

Keys also explained that the reason behind a nickname given to her by pals, AK-47, was not political.

The singer said: "Regarding the AK-47 reference, AK-47 is a nickname given to me by some of my friends in jest, as an acronym for Alicia Keys and a metaphor for wowing people with my music and performances, 'killing 'em dead' on stage. The reference was in no way meant to have a literal, political or negative connotation."

She then concluded: "The recent implications about me are too radical and too dramatic a departure from whom I have continually demonstrated myself to be. I work so hard and give so much of myself to bring about positive change to this world, and I only wish those efforts received as much press and attention as the misinterpretations of the Blender article."

Blender Magazine have yet to responded.