Angela Simmons was quick to respond following backlash over her interesting accessory at the 2024 BET Awards.
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The self-proclaimed “Woman of God, mom, and philanthropist” showed up on the red carpet on Sunday night wearing a strapless green dress and carrying a matching, bedazzled purse in the shape of a handgun. To drive that narrative home, she did several poses during her red carpet photo op to match its shape, holding it up and pointing the bag toward cameras.
Source: Aaron J. Thornton / Getty
This accessory choice rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way not only because she was seemingly glorifying guns, but because of her personal history with gun violence. Angela’s ex-fiancé and the father of her 6-year-old child, Sutton Tennyson, was fatally shot in 2018.
Users flooded social media with their thoughts about the accessory, emphasizing how weird it is for Simmons, in particular, to flaunt a gun-shaped accessory like a toy.
Simmons didn’t wait long to respond to the backlash, taking to Instagram to address her fashion choice. While she didn’t directly address the fact that the father of her child died due to gun violence, she did insist that she’s not a “violent” person at all and simply thought that handbag looked “cool.”
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The former reality star started off by saying that she doesn’t normally “address rumors and stuff,” but she wants to clear up any implications that may have come with her carrying such a bag.
“I’m not like that, never been like that. I’m super…like, I’m not violent,” Simmons said in a video posted to her Instagram Story. “I’ve obviously been through a lot in my personal life when it comes to gun violence and it’s very personal to me. But, I just liked the bag and I thought that it was cool and I thought it was a fashion moment and that was it.”
She continued, “I didn’t have any intentions of ruffling anyone’s feathers, it seems like everyone–or a couple of people–are a little upset. But, I don’t mean no harm. I’m super, super peaceful and yeah, I’m sorry if it bothered anyone, but that’s not me, that’s just not how I am.”
