Dutch magazine editor resigns over Rihanna racism storm

A Dutch women's magazine has been forced to issue an apology to pop star Rihanna after using a racial term to describe her.

Eva Hoeke, editor of Jackie magazine, had to issue a statement to apologise to the singer for referring to her as a "De N*ggabitch".

In an article about Rihanna, entitled 'De N***abitch' - which was translated by Parlourmagazine.com - the publication wrote: "She has street cred, she has a ghetto ass and she has a golden throat. Rihanna, the good girl gone bad, is the ultimate n***abitch and displays that gladly, and for her that means: what’s on can come off.

"If that means she’ll be on stage half naked, then so be it. But Dutch winters aren’t like Jamaican ones, so pick a clothing style in which your daughter can resist minus ten. No to the big sunglasses and the pornheels, and yes to the tiger print, pink shizzle and everything that glitters. Now let’s hope she won’t beat anybody up at daycare.”

The article prompted Rihanna to reply,

"I hope u can read english, because your magazine is a poor representation of the evolution of human rights! I find you disrespectful and rather desperate!!

"You ran out of legit, civilized information to print! There are 1000's of Dutch girls who would love to be recognized for their contributions to your country, you could have given them an article. Instead, u paid to print one degrading an entire race! That's your contribution to this world!"

The magazine issued an apology for the use of the racial slur with a message from Hoeke who said,

"While the author meant no harm — the title of the article was intended as a joke — it was a bad joke, to say the least. And that slipped through my, the editor-in-chief's, fingers. Stupid, painful and sucks for all concerned."

She added,

"The author has been addressed on it, and now I can only ensure that these terms will no longer end up in the magazine. Furthermore I hope that you all believe there was absolutely no racist motive behind the choice of words. It was stupid, it was naive to think that this was an acceptable form of slang — you hear it all the time on tv and radio, then your idea of what is normal apparently shifts — but it was especially misguided: there was no malice behind it."

Hoeke concluded,

"We make our magazine with love, energy and enthusiasm, and it can sometimes happen that someone is out of line. And then you can only do one thing: apologize. And hope that others wish to accept it. From the bottom of my heart I say it again: we never intended to offend anyone. And I mean that."