Cousins!

Columbian singer and songwriter J. Balvin has issued an official apology following immediate backlash he received for his recently released music video ‘Perra’

Within the video Balvin can be seen tugging at Black women on leashes, reports NBC News.

The video directed by Raymond Paulus and features Dominican rapper Tokischa was taken down from YouTube last week on October 17th.

Along with Balvin walking two Black women on leashes, in an additional scene Tokischa was seen posing on all fours within a doghouse.

Balvin took to social media on Sunday in a series of Instagram stories to apologize by saying, “I want to say sorry to whomever felt offended, especially to the Black women community.”

He continued, “That’s not who I am. I have always expressed tolerance, love and inclusivity. I also like to support new artists, in this case Tokischa, a woman who supports her people, her community and also empowers women.”

Balvin explains that his decision to remove the video was, “as a form of respect”.

Tokischa states within a Rolling Stone interview that the entire video was conceptual, “If you, as a creative, have a song that’s talking about dogs, you’re going to create that world,” she said. “I understand the interpretation people had and I’m truly sorry that people felt offended. But at the same time, art is expression. It’s creating a world.”

Paulus also told the outlet that the video was “never aimed to promote racism or misogyny.”

He added: “The Dominican Republic is a country where most of the population is Black and our Blackness is predominant in underground scenes, where the filming took place, and which was the subject of the video’s inspiration. ‘Perra’ was a video filmed in the neighborhood, with people from the neighborhood, and the use of people of color in ‘Perra’ was nothing more than the participation of our people in it.”