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Very Real

India.Arie Calls Out Jimmy Fallon And Justin Timberlake For Co-Opting Her "Sacred Word"

A skit Fallon and Timberlake recently performed on The Tonight Show is rubbing India.Arie the wrong way.

By Sharon Lynn Pruitt
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India.Arie would like a word with Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake.

Earlier this week, The Tonight Show host teamed up with Timberlake to perform a skit where they talked to each other using only song lyrics. The name of the skit is "Songversation," which, as Essence pointed out, is also the title of India.Arie's 2013 album, as well as the tile of her 2018 EP, SongVersation: Medicine.

And for the record? India.Arie definitely noticed. The singer took to Twitter earlier this week to express her disappointment in Fallon and Timberlake for co-opting what she describes as her "sacred word."

"I hear the @jimmyfallon show appropriated my sacred word #songversation Last night for a skit. Just be clear ~ Im offended," she wrote, adding a broken heart emoji.

"Scrolling thru these hashtags is [making] me nauseous. Songversation was not created as a place for @jimmyfallon to make jokes. SMH," she continued in another tweet, adding, "I demand that my life's work be RESPECTED ~ do not TOY with #Songversation."

Opinions on social media seemed to be mixed, which prompted India.Arie to explain that, regardless of whether or not Fallon and Timberlake intended to offend her, her feelings are still valid.

"My stance is NOT that it was intentional. It's that is offensive," she wrote. "I don't like it and I don't have to. And standing for myself is ... valid."

Fallon and Timberlake have yet to respond to Arie's comments. You can check out their "Songversation" skit below.


[Photo: Getty Images]