Vanessa Bryant Criticizes Meek Mill for 'Extremely Insensitive and Disrespectful' Lyric About Kobe

  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP/Shutterstock; Prince Williams/WireImage Vanessa and Kobe Bryant (L); Meek Mill

Meek Mill has apologized to Vanessa Bryant after she called the rapper out for his insensitive lyrics about her late husband, basketball legend Kobe Bryant.

In a post to her Instagram Story on Monday, Vanessa shared a screengrab of lyrics from Mill's upcoming song with Lil Baby titled "Don't Worry (RIP Kobe)," which recently leaked online.

In the track, Mill raps, "This bitch I'm f—in' always tell me that she love me, but she ain't ever showed me / Yeah, and if I ever lack, I'm goin' out with my chopper, it be another Kobe." Kobe died in a helicopter crash in January 2020.

Wrote Vanessa in her post, "Dear @meekmill, I find this line to be extremely insensitive and disrespectful. Period. I am not familiar with any of your music, but I believe you can do better than this."

Continued Kobe's widow: "If you are a fan, fine, there's a better way to show your admiration for my husband. This lacks respect and tact."

Later on Monday, Mill tweeted that he had apologized to Vanessa for his words in the song. Wrote Mill, 33, "I apologized to her in private earlier today not to the public...Nothing I say on my page directed to a internet viral moment or the family of a grieving woman! If you care about someone grieving change the subject!"

Vanessa Bryant Instagram

Before the apology tweet, Mill appeared to double down on defending his rap, writing on Twitter, "I don't think we on the same signal y'all .., I don't see what y'all see … I be looking at the net laughing like I did whet Upside-down face I say random s--- all day on social … it becomes a trend to hate on me every once in a while but I feed off that s--- ima beast literally."

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Ahead of Vanessa's comments, social media users were already widely criticizing the rapper for the controversial lyric. Mill initially seemingly responded to the backlash in two evasive tweets last week.

RELATED: Vanessa Bryant Shares Valentine's Day Tribute to Late Husband Kobe Bryant: "Now, Forever, For Always"

"Somebody promo a narrative and y'all follow it....," he first wrote late last Wednesday night, appearing to negate the interpretation of his line. "Y'all internet antics cannot stop me ....s— like zombie land or something! Lol."

RELATED VIDEO: Vanessa Bryant Mourns Kobe and Gianna Bryant on First Anniversary of Fatal Accident

Vanessa Bryant Mourns Kobe and Gianna Bryant on First Anniversary of Fatal Accident

"I will never understand why/how this tragedy could’ve happened to such beautiful, kind and amazing human beings," Vanessa Bryant captioned an Instagram post of a moving note from Gianna's best friend

He followed up with a second Tweet, saying, "They paying to influence y'all now ... its [sic] almost like mind control 'wake up,'" wrote the "Dreams and Nightmares" hitmaker.

For his part, Lil Baby has not yet publicly addressed the backlash to the song.