Profile of Rihanna in Jackie magazine using racially offensive language solicits furious response and subsequent resignation of editor

This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

A Dutch magazine editor has resigned after publishing a controversial profile of Rihanna. In an article called "De Niggabitch", Jackie magazine mocked the Barbadian-born Rihanna as a "half naked … Jamaican". "With all [due] respect," the singer replied on Twitter, "here are my two words for you: Fuck You!!!"

The Rihanna profile appears in the latest issue of Jackie, a glossy women's magazine based in Amsterdam. "Rihanna, the good girl gone bad, is the ultimate niggabitch and displays that gladly," they write. The author goes on to describe the singer's "porn heels" and "ghetto ass".

After learning of the piece this week, Rihanna unleashed a volley of furious tweets:

"I hope u can read english, because your magazine is a poor representation of the evolution of human rights," she snarled. "There are 1000's of Dutch girls who would love to be recognised for their contributions to your country, [and] you could have given them an article. Instead, u paid to print one degrading an entire race! That's your contribution to this world! To encourage segregation, to mislead the future leaders to act in the past! You put two words together … with the intent of abasement, that made no sense … 'N**** BITCH'?!"

Eva Hoeke, Jackie's editor-in-chief, initially tried to laugh off the controversy. "The title of the article was intended as a joke," she wrote on Facebook. "There was no malice behind it." Because "you hear [those words] all the time on TV and radio," she claimed, Jackie's editors "[thought] that this was an acceptable form of slang".

"[It] slipped through my … fingers," she went on. "Stupid, painful and sucks for all concerned."

Apparently this apology was insufficient. Yesterday, Jackie magazine's publishers announced that Hoeke had resigned. In a parting statement, Hoeke blamed her departure not on the initial article, but on how she responded to it. "I realise that my first reaction … in which I indicated that [the article] was a joke, was … incomplete," she wrote:

"The term 'niggabitch' came from America and we solely used it to describe a style of dress … I should have counted to 10 before taking un-nuanced stands through social media channels … Because my credibility is now affected, it is better for all parties if I quit my function as editor-in-chief effective immediately."

At the time of writing, Rihanna had not responded to Hoeke's resignation.