Lana Del Rey criticized for posting video of ‘looting’ during George Floyd protests

Lana Del Rey seems to be on a streak — but not for a good reason.

In the span of only 10 days, the American pop artist has sparked controversy yet again, however this time, for sharing videos captured during protests in the U.S. triggered by the death of George Floyd.

Floyd, a Black man, died in Minneapolis, Minn., on May 25 after a former police officer kneeled on his neck during an arrest.

The first of Del Rey’s two Instagram videos posted on Sunday shows a maskless Black man standing atop of a burnt car while holding a protest sign. It reads: “No justice, no peace.”

In the 34-year-old’s second, and since-deleted video, multiple protesters — whose faces could be seen visibly — were captured breaking into small business and stealing items from stores, as alarms sounded in the background, according to Billboard.

In response to her videos, thousands of individuals — including fellow musicians Kehlani and Tinashe — took to social media condemning Del Rey for “endangering” the lives of the protesters seen clearly in her videos.

Kehlani, 25, pleaded that the Summertime Sadness singer “remove” her Instagram post, before calling it “dangerous as f–k” in a since-deleted tweet.

“A very poor choice of moments to post,” wrote the Gangsta singer. “By all means protest, but do not endanger people with your very massive platform.”

Kehlani urged her fans and followers that her criticism was not “about” Del Rey, but rather about stopping “further endangering the lives of Black people.”

“It’s about responsibility,” she added. “Don’t make it about her.”

Kehlani further criticized Del Rey for disabling the comment section on her posts, blocking anyone from calling her out or sharing their opinions on the matter.

“Oh and turn your f–kin’ comments on, man,” she tweeted.

Tinashe, 27, followed suit, tweeting: “Why the f–k are you posting people looting stores on your page. Literally, what is your problem?”

Among many, many others, screenwriter/songwriter Lindiwe Suttle also took to Twitter castigating Del Rey.

“Lana has never been an ally,” she wrote.

Here’s what some other Twitter users had to say:

Many others called Del Rey out for dating a “cop.”

“Lana Del Rey (showed) up to (a) #BlackLivesMatter protest in a s—-y effort to seem not racist, but (took) videos of other (mainly black) protesters, clearly putting their faces on display,” tweeted another user.

They concluded: “If they’re caught and killed, it’s your fault, Lana.”

In place of her controversial and now-deleted video — which captured what Kehlani described as a “looting” — Del Rey since posted a screenshot of an article pertaining to Floyd’s killer, Derek Chauvin.

Chauvin, 44, was charged with murder last Friday after a bystander captured footage of him kneeling on Floyd’s neck.

Additionally, the singer shared a picture of herself posing with another person to her Instagram stories. The other individual held a sign which reads “enough as enough.” Both wore masks.

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Protests fuelled by death of George Floyd sweep across U.S.

The most recent controversy surrounding the Norman F—ing Rockwell! hit-maker comes less than two weeks after she sparked widespread speculation that she was “racist” among fans and critics with a questionable Instagram post.

In the lengthy rant, shared on May 21, Del Rey said other female pop stars — singling out primarily Black women — have been getting No. 1 singles for singing about “being sexy” and “wearing no clothes” without judgment, whereas, she is supposedly always “crucified” for “glamourizing abuse” when trying to create “embodied” music about “feeling beautiful.”

Del Rey’s message reads, in part: “Now that Doja Cat, Ariana (Grande), Camila (Cabello), Cardi B, Kehlani, Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé have had number ones with songs about being sexy, wearing no clothes, f—ing, cheating etc., can I please go back to singing about being embodied, feeling beautiful by being in love even if the relationship is not perfect without being crucified, or saying that I’m glamourizing abuse?”

Though the brooding pop singer said the basis of her message was just to defend herself from the “female writers” and “alt. singers” who have continued to criticize her “minor lyrical exploration” in the last decade, many of her followers couldn’t help but feel like Del Rey was simply being “racist” by “targeting” black artists like Doja Cat, Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé.

Headlined with the caption, “Nobody gets to tell your story,” Del Rey shared a six-minute IGTV video on last week, in response, where she tried to explain her controversial rant, while also claiming (again) that she’s “definitely not racist.”

In the video, Del Rey stressed that her rant was merely “advocacy for fragility” in the “feminist movement” and should not have been turned into “a race war.”