Muslim Dancehall Artiste Lisa Mercedez Deletes Video, Apologizes After More Threats
Lisa Mecerdez, who recently caused a stir when she released a video for her song Shahada, in which she used a prayer from the Koran, has apologized and removed the video from circulation.
Mercedez who is a Jamaican born, British-based Dancehall artiste, recently announced her re-conversion to Islam. She said that she would cover up more in an effort to respect the religion but still intended to pursue her Dancehall career which has been blossoming. Ever since releasing her video however, she has been receiving death threats along with racist attacks. Some of which she exposed in an Instagram post today.
She begins the post with: “Firstly I want to express my sincerest apologies to anyone I’ve offended. When I made the video for Shahada it was done with best intentions.”
Mercedez said the Shahaba video was “intended to be a message to my fans about my journey and new found faith.” She added that “whilst it has created some positive conversation with people that want to know about the religion, there are some people that equally are offended by it.”
“This was never meant to cause any offence to anyone. Out of the upmost respect I have decided to remove the video”, the singer said.
Mercedez further explained her decision a bit more as she said she was called many derogatory names and was surprised by the racist and abusive messages she received. “Whether my actions were right or not, it doesn’t warrant such disgusting abuse”, she said.
“This to me is shameful to see and as a new revert it is a huge turn off. The prophet (peace be upon him) said “insulting a muslim is an evil action and fighting him is disbelief (Kufr)”, she added in a caption of the Instagram post.
She uses the rest of the post to show both positive and negative comments from fans, some of which included frightening death threats.
The singer hasn’t let the negative feedback stop her from continuing her progress in Dancehall as she recently posted about her excitement at her upcoming project with top deejay Vybz Kartel, called Of Dons and Divas. She said, “Coming soon, I’m glad to be a part of this project @vybzkartel ft myself #worldboss dons & divas album #2020”.