Right, this is why Halle Berry is seriously angry at Drake right now

Drake has been up to some weird shit lately. Earlier this month, he posed with hundreds of women’s bras on Instagram to remind us he could get some. And now, he’s royally pissed off Halle Berry by using a picture of her screaming while getting slimed at the 25th annual Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards as his latest single’s promo cover— after she’d said no.

When the track – Slime You Out – was released and posted all across social media, one fan asked Halle on Instagram whether she was actually okay with the photo of her being used. “Didn’t get my permission,” Halle replied. “That’s not cool I thought better of him!”

As people keep pointing out, the photo of Halle getting slimed is owned by Getty Images. So, anybody could actually license to use if for a fee. But, Drake’s had specifically contacted Halle to get her go ahead – seemingly as a courtesy – and when she said no, Drake did it anyway. He knew she’d be powerless to stop him. He could have used other promo pictures.

When asked again and again why she was so upset by Drake’s fans, Halle replied frustratedly: “Cuz he asked me and i said NO that’s why. Why ask if you intend to do what you want to do ! That was the f— you to me. Not cool You get it?” It was about the disrespect.

“I normally don’t release statements,” Drake responded this week, “I did dm Halle Berry and got her permission, she said no. I went to the company and we got [their] permission but I love Halle Berry and this has been taken out of context.”

So, all Drake’s correction really confirms is that he did go against what Halle wanted. He willfully used her face to promote his music – with an image she wasn’t happy with – after she asked him not too. He took away her agency and humiliated her on a very public stage.

Paying for a photo doesn’t make it morally right to use it. We saw this in 2018 when Kanye West’s label paid $85,000 for a photo of Whitney Houston’s drug-covered bathroom and used it on the cover of Pusha T’s Daytona album. “Absolutely disgusting,” her family said at the time.

Halle Berry has inspired generations of rappers. She’s mentioned in endless songs by everyone from Jay Z to Kanye West and Migos to Lil Wayne. But no matter how much of an iconic figure she’s become in the lyrics of that scene, it shouldn’t give musicians free reign to disrespect her wishes and subject her to public humiliation she never consented to.

“I’m not interested in suing my people,” Halle responded to a fan who suggested she take legal action over the photo. “I just wish these men out here would give women the respect they deserve.”

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Featured image credit via Image Press Agency/NurPhoto/Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock