Rapper T.I. found himself in hot water when he made controversial statements about how he parents his 18-year-old daughter, Deyjah Harris. While he was a guest on the podcast Ladies Like Us With Nazanin And Nadia, T.I. explained that he took his daughter to yearly virginity check ups to make sure that her hymen was still intact.
“Deyjah’s 18, just graduated high school now and she’s attending her first year of college, figuring it out for herself. And yes, not only have we had the conversation, we have yearly trips to the gynecologist to check her hymen.”
“Usually, like, the day after the [birthday] party, she’s enjoying her gifts,” he explained. “I put a sticky note on the door: ‘Gyno. Tomorrow. 9:30.’”
” I say, ‘Deyjah, they want you to sign this … so we can uh, share information. Do you have, is there anything, is there anything that you would not want me to know? Oh, okay. See, Doc, ain’t no problem.'”
T.I. continued, showing further disdain about her bodily autonomy.
“I say, ‘Look, Doc. She don’t ride no horses; she don’t ride no bikes; she don’t play no sports — man, just check the hymen please and give me back my results. Expeditiously!’
I will say, as of her 18th birthday, her hymen is still intact.”
When asked about this invasive treatment, T.I.’s wife and Deyjah’s stepmother, Tiny, simply responded with eye rolling emojis when asked about whether or not Deyjah was ok.
Deyjah hasn’t made any public statements about her father’s misogynistic comments, but she has been making subtle nods towards her feelings on the matter. To the surprise of no one, she is not in favor of this kind of treatment.
She unfollowed T.I. on social media after his statements and was seen liking tweets criticizing his behavior.
“this is disgusting, possessive and controlling whew“
“give me my results first of all mf, those are HER results!! Like WTF”
“This is just beyond possessive”
Clearly, Deyjah agrees that her father’s behavior is way over the line.
The conversation around this subject hasn’t died down yet, and clearly that’s becoming too much for Deyjah. She ended up deleting her Instagram over the weekend, taking a social media detox break while the entire internet is discussing the state of her hymen.
Honestly, who can blame her? Even removing the extremely controlling behavior, spilling about her sexual behavior or lack thereof is over the line. Who wouldn’t need to take a break from the internet after all that?!
