College basketball star apologises after using 9/11 reference in song

12 May 2023 , 14:19

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Flau’jae Johnson recently helped LSU win the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament National Championships (Image: C. Morgan Engel/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

LSU star Flau'jae Johnson has apologised after she made a reference to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in a music video shared on social media.

The 19-year-old musician is also a freshman at LSU and a guard for their Women’s Basketball team. Johnson recently helped LSU win the national title, averaging 11 points and 5.9 rebounds per game this season.

One of Johnson’s most recent songs was a remix of Latto's "Put It On Da Floor”, which she posted, and later deleted, on Twitter. In the song, she used the lyric: "In this 911, blowing smoke just like them towers,” whilst talking about a Porsche 911 sports car.

After Johnson posted the video, she began to receive plenty of criticism with the reference to the 9/11 terrorist attack. As a result, she deleted the video and later took to Instagram to issue an apology.

On Instagram, Johnson told her 1.3 million followers: "Y’all probably heard the lyrics in the song that I made and I just wanted to come on here and let y’all know by no means would I ever intentionally try to disrespect or offend anyone.

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"My whole goal in music is to push positivity and spread love. So, in no way, shape or form would I intentionally try to disrespect or offend anyone. I’m definitely going to learn from this moving forward and I just thank y’all for y’all continued support."

LSU have also issued a statement saying that they have spoken to the teenager about the video and insisting Johnson was remorseful about any hurt caused by the video.

Flau'jae Johnson has apologised for a music video which referenced the 9/11 terrorist attacks (Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

A statement to Fox News read: "We spoke with Flau’jae this evening, and while she never intended to offend or upset anyone with her lyrics, she expressed sincere remorse for any possibility of a misunderstanding and immediately took the video down.

“We will learn and grow from this experience together.”

Johnson has been involved with music since she was in middle school, and recently signed a distribution deal with Jay Z's Roc Nation label in 2020. Johnson also appeared on America’s Got Talent back in 2018 when she was 14 years old, and got a golden buzzer from the judges for her performance.

Mark Wakefield