Rihanna is stepping up in support of a Vogue writer who received backlash after admitting that she didn’t prepare for an interview with the pop star and business mogul.
According to the Vogue story, writer Abby Aguirre admitted that she was ill-prepared and didn’t even have preplanned questions to ask RiRi.
“Normally I bring a list of questions, but I didn’t have time to prepare one, which I make a split-second decision to confess,” Aguirre wrote. “‘I’m winging it, so you have to help me,’ I say nervously. Rihanna flashes a grin that is somehow both reassuring and mischievous. ‘Aren’t we all?’ she says?”
Many were upset that Aguirre didn’t prepare for an interview with someone as iconic as Rihanna and was brazen enough to include the admission in the piece.
“Lord, may I one day have the confidence of a Vogue writer who arrives at an interview with RIHANNA without a list of questions they had pulled together and ordered and reordered after months and months of research,” writer Allison Davis tweeted.
https://twitter.com/AllisonPDavis/status/1181934185382137857
https://twitter.com/allyo_reilly/status/1181928814886215680
Imagine you get the opportunity to interview RIHANNA and you’re like nah I don’t have to prepare… MADNESS
— Isabelle Knevett (@IsabelleKnevett) October 9, 2019
“Normally I bring a list of questions, but I didn’t have time to prepare one, which I make a split-second decision to confess. ‘I’m winging it, so you have to help me,’ I say…”
— 💎 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕠𝕟 𝕃𝕖𝕖 💎 (@whoisshanonlee) October 9, 2019
Sorry, but I just can’t see a Black woman writer being so cavalier. I— https://t.co/qdu074h9vG
And they gave her the Inteview?????? @bronze_bombSHEL would have been prepared
— Lindiwe Suttle Müller-Westernhagen (@lindiwesuttle) October 9, 2019
Aquirre responded to the backlash, explaining that she recieved a last-minute call to do the interview and had no choice but to show up unprepared.
“I was driving to Trader Joe’s in sweatpants when I got the call and literally had to flip a bitch,” Aquirre tweeted. “I research my subjects to death. *Especially* Rihanna. I appreciate the anger behind the reaction. But this is a misunderstanding, for which I take full responsibility.”
https://twitter.com/abby_aguirre/status/1182023712993759233?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1182023712993759233&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.complex.com%2Fmusic%2F2019%2F10%2Frihanna-vogue-writer-winged-interview-gangster
https://twitter.com/abby_aguirre/status/1182024070344237056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1182024070344237056&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.complex.com%2Fmusic%2F2019%2F10%2Frihanna-vogue-writer-winged-interview-gangster
Rihanna has since responded to the controversy by defending the writer in a recent red carpet interview.
“Wait, wait, what?” Rihanna recently told WWD when asked about the criticism of Aguirre on Friday night. “No, no, no, no. That’s gangster. For you to get a call the day before being like, ‘Hey, Rihanna’s in L.A., you wanna do this?’ And show up on the dime and write an incredible article that I’m really proud of and enjoyed reading? She’s badass for that.”
She also added one final statement of support: “If you don’t have to prepare, girl, you’re gangster.”
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