Rapper T.I. has responded to the backlash he received after revealing that he goes to the gynecologist with his 18-year-old daughter Deyjah to make sure her hymen is still intact.
T.I. and his wife, singer Tiny Harris, joined Jada Pinkett Smith and her mom Adrienne Banfield-Jones for an episode of Red Table Talk where the rapper claimed the intentions around his comments have been “misconstrued and misconceived.”
“All of this surrounds a conversation that I was having in a very joking manner when asked how do I deal with parenting in this day and age,” the rapper said, referring to the conversation he had with the hosts of the Ladies Like Us podcast. “So, I just began to, from a place of truth, I began to embellish and exaggerate, and I think that a lot of people took it extremely literal.”
T.I. went on to explain that Deyjah’s mother was present at the time of the incident, that he did not go into the exam room, and that none of what he discussed “was being done present day,” with Harris adding that the events had occurred when Deyjah was 15 and 16 years old.
ESSENCE reached out to a rep for Red Table Talk, asking if Deyjah or her mother, R&B singer Ms. Niko, were invited to the discussion, but didn’t hear back yet.
“All of these things, all of this narrative, this false narrative, has just been sensationalized,” T.I. added.
The rapper continued by offering an apology to his daughter before the group expanded their conversation to dive into the role of fathers when it comes to parenting young women.
You can watch part one of T.I. and Tiny’s Red Table Talk on Facebook Watch now. Part two, which explores the couple’s marriage, will air on Wednesday at 12 p.m. ET.