Demi Lovato deactivated her Twitter account Sunday following heated ― and sometimes disturbing ― backlash over an image she shared that appeared to mock rapper 21 Savage.
The “Confident” singer posted the image, which shows a person using a feather pen under the caption “This is how 21 Savage be writing his verses,” hours after 21 Savage was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
ICE said 21 Savage, legally named Sha Yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, was taken into custody because he overstayed a visa. The “Bank Account” rapper has publicly identified himself as being from Atlanta, but ICE said he is actually from the United Kingdom.
“So far 21 savage memes have been my favorite part of the Super Bowl,” Lovato had tweeted.
Twitter users shredded Lovato over the tweets, which they said mocked 21 Savage’s alleged nationality and made light of his detainment.
Migos rapper Offset defended 21 Savage on Twitter hours after Lovato posted the seemingly tone-deaf tweets.
“ALL THE MEMES AND SHIT AINT FUNNY,” Offset tweeted. “PRAYING FOR MY DAWG. .... HIS FAMILY DEPENDING ON HIM.”
Rapper Wale, directly calling out Lovato, tweeted, “Why is somebody freedom funny ... I don’t get the joke.”
Other social media users took aim at Lovato’s past drug abuse and addiction struggles when expressing their outrage over her tweets. Lovato, who has been open about her mental health issues and substance abuse issues, was hospitalized in July following an apparent drug overdose.
“Go shoot some more heroin Demi,” one Instagram user commented. “She does crack why she laughing,” wrote another.
After attempting to clarify her sentiment on Twitter, Lovato eventually deactivated her account amid the incessant blowback.
“Fuck Twitter. This is why I don’t tweet anymore,” she wrote in one tweet. “FYI this is the shit I’m laughing at...not the fact that anyone is getting deported,” she said in another, referring to the meme itself.
Lovato addressed the incident later Sunday in a series of posts to her Instagram story. Though she apologized if she offended anyone, she failed to acknowledge why some people might have viewed her initial 21 Savage tweets as insensitive and hurtful.
“Wasn’t laughing at anyone getting deported,” Lovato wrote. “Sorry if I offended anyone. But it’s no excuse to laugh at someone’s addiction let alone their OD.”
“I was laughing at who the fuck knew 21 was British? Literally no one,” she added. “That’s it. It doesn’t go deeper than that. I’m sorry if I upset people truly.”
Lovato fired back at Wale in the comments section of an Instagram post shared on The Shade Room’s page.
“Wale just salty I never replied to his desperate tweets years ago,” she commented on the post, which featured an image of one of her earlier tweets about 21 Savage and Wale’s initial response to it.
But Wale replied to her barb with positivity.
“Still ain’t gon disrespect you,” he wrote. “Still praying for you Demi. Glad u seen my old tweets. Hopefully you seen the ones providing comfort and prayer when you were down. I don’t quick people when they down. Go queen.”
Representatives for both Lovato and 21 Savage did not immediately return HuffPost’s requests for comment.
This story has been updated with additional comments by Lovato and Wale.