Cardi B DEFENDS her choice to refer to her Met Gala designer as 'Asian' instead of his name amid backlash: 'I didn't want to be offensive'

Cardi B is defending herself for not knowing the name of the man who designed her stunning black gown at the 2024 Met Gala.

When asked by Emma Chamberlain who was the mastermind behind her show-stopping look, the Grammy winner, 31, hesitated before saying: ‘They’re Asian and everything.’

Following the now-viral faux-pas, which has sparked substantial backlash on social media, the singer took to social media to explain what happened.

The rapper, who was called out by Vogue’s former managing director Gilbert Cheah for letting designer Sensen Lii’s name slip her mind, clarified that she actually forgot how to pronounce Lii’s name.

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Cardi B is defending herself for not knowing the name of the man who designed her stunning black gown at the 2024 Met Gala

Lii is the founder and designer behind the label Windowsen.

In a new video, uploaded to Instagram, the mother-of-two revealed that she ‘had a lot of things on’ her mind and was ‘very scared’ as she was being rushed to the front of the line on her way into The Metropolitan Museum of Art for the annual gathering.

‘I kind of forgot how to pronounce the designer’s name because his name is a little bit complicated… my mind was just racing,’ she recalled.

The Bodak Yellow hitmaker explained that rather than butchering the pronunciation of Lii’s name, she said ‘Asian designer.’

She also revealed that she said Asian, not Chinese, because she was unsure of his nationality and ‘didn’t want to be offensive.’

While addressing Cheah, Cardi reiterated that she wasn’t trying to ‘be offensive.’

‘I feel like the designer and my stylist worked really hard for this theme, so for you to be kind of shady because she feel offended or whatever, it just proves why you’re the former director,’ she fired. ‘You’re trying to offend me but you’re actually offending the people behind-the-scenes.’

Cheah had commented under one of Cardi’s post to state he was disappointed by her lack of knowledge about the designer of her Met Gala gown.

‘For the record and recognition, and no thanks to Cardii B, the designer of her gown is Sensen Lii who’s Chinese. The gown took two months to make. I personally think it’s boring and not even on theme but she chose it and should have at least remembered his name and not just that he’s ‘Asian,’ he wrote.

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When asked by Emma Chamberlain who was the mastermind behind her show-stopping look, the Grammy winner, 31, hesitated before saying: ‘They’re Asian and everything’

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Following the now-viral faux-pas, which has sparked substantial backlash on social media, the singer took to social media to explain what happened

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Sensen Lii (seen above) is the founder and designer behind the label Windowsen

After footage spread like wildfire of the performer forgetting how to pronounce Lii’s name, X users condemned Cardi for ‘not knowing the name of the designer.’

‘Cardi B not remembering the name of the person who designed her dress for the met gala and just calling him some ‘Asian’ is just disrespectful’ one tweeted.

Another wrote: ‘Wait I’m SCREAMING cos Cardi B has no idea what’s the name of the designer who made her huge #MetGala dress.’

‘She’s not seriously trying to excuse herself of not knowing who spent months making the dress she was wearing,’ a third asked.

A fourth stated: ‘Cardi B really messed up in not knowing her designer’s name. You spend 2 months going for fittings, even changing the colour of your whole dress, and you don’t know who’s responsible for it??’

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X users condemned Cardi for ‘not knowing the name of the designer’

‘Cardi B not remembering the name of the person who designed her dress for the met gala and just calling him some ‘Asian’ is just disrespectful’ one tweeted

A third wrote: ‘Cardi B really messed up in not knowing her designer’s name. You spend 2 months going for fittings, even changing the colour of your whole dress, and you don’t know who’s responsible for it??’

‘She’s not seriously trying to excuse herself of not knowing who spent months making the dress she was wearing,’ a fourth X user asked

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Cardi’s Met Gala look made quite the statement as she climbed up The Met’s famous front steps

Cardi B turns heads as she arrives to the 2024 Met Gala in NYC

Cardi’s Met Gala look made quite the statement as she climbed up The Met’s famous front steps.

Her floor-length frock, complete with a monumental tulle skirt that stole the show, required as many as nine men to fan out the fabric around her before posing for pictures.

The unfurled skirt was so large that it looked as if no other stars could pass until she made her way to the top of the steps.

Cardi appeared to have waited toward the end of the procession of famous faces, which allowed her to take up plenty of space without inconveniencing too many others.

After she got the men assisting her to fan out her skirt, they departed so that she could take some photos, before they returned to help hold the dress up as she ascended the stairs, though they had to pause and hide again as she posed for more pictures.