Lorde has deleted and apologized for an Instagram post that made a tone-deaf reference to the late Whitney Houston after a social media backlash.
The Kiwi singer had posted a picture of a bathtub and captioned it with “And iiii will always love you,” a lyric from the Dolly Parton-penned “I Will Always Love You” that later became a global hit for Whitney Houston.
Houston died aged 48 after drowning in a bathtub in February 2012. Her daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, was found unconscious in a bathtub in tragically similar circumstances in January 2015, before dying six months later at the age of 22.
Social media users on Instagram and Twitter were quick to jump on Lorde for making the clumsy association with many users barracking her for being insensitive.
The Grammy winner later posted an apology on her Instagram. “Extremely extremely poorly chosen quote. I’m so sorry for offending anyone — I hadn’t even put this together, I was just excited to take a bath. I’m an idiot. Love Whitney forever and ever. Sorry again,” she wrote.
See the now-deleted Instagram post here.