Lana Del Rey has found herself in controversy once again. The singer-songwriter shared two videos on Sunday (May 31) of protesters calling for justice for George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for nine minutes.
The first video she shared showed a man standing on a burned-out car while holding a sign that read “no justice no peace.” The second showed multiple people breaking into businesses and running out with arms full as alarms blared. Del Rey also posted an image of herself at the protest.
While she had comments disabled on her post, a few of her fellow musicians were angered and criticized her for sharing the second video.
“.@LanaDelRey please remove your instagram post it’s dangerous as f–k and a very poor choice of moments to post,” Kehlani tweeted. “by all means protest, but DO NOT endanger people with your very massive platform. oh and turn your f–kin comments on man.”
“it’s not about her don’t make it about her,” the “Konclusions” singer added. “it’s about furthering endangering the lives of black people. it’s about responsibility.”
Tinashe also chimed in, tweeting, “why the f–k are you posting people looting stores on your page literally WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM”
Songwriter Lindiwe Suttle expressed her frustration with Del Rey as well, tweeting, “Lana has never been an ally. #DearWhitePeople will our real allies… PLEASE STAND UP!!!”
Not long after the critical messages appeared on social media, the “Norman F–king Rockwell” singer removed the second video, and put the photo of herself in her stories instead. Kehlani then scrubbed her own tweet and added, “I was told the post was deleted and that was my point, so I deleted the tweet.”
Billboard has reached out to Del Rey for comment.
Ten days earlier on May 21, Del Rey made headlines when she announced her upcoming album. In an Instagram post, the singer wrote, “Now that Doja Cat, Ariana, Camila, Cardi B, Kehlani and Nicki Minaj and Beyonce have had number ones with songs about being sexy, wearing no clothes, f—ing, cheating, etc — can I please go back to singing about being embodied, feeling beautiful by being in love even if the relationship is not perfect, or dancing for money – or whatever I want – without being crucified or saying that I’m glamorizing abuse?”
After being labeled “racist” for calling out female artists of color in her post, Del Rey responded in the comments, writing: “This is sad to make it about a WOC issue when I’m talking about my favorite singers. I could’ve literally said anyone but I picked my favorite f–king people.”
She spoke up about the post again on May 24. In the six-minute video, she continued to defend herself. “I’m not the enemy, and I’m definitely not racist, so don’t get it twisted,” she said after earlier calling herself a girls’ girl. “Nobody gets to tell your story except for you, and that’s what I’m gonna do in the next couple books. So God bless and, yeah, f–k off if you don’t like the post.”