US rapper TI faces backlash over daughter’s virginity test

Los Angeles: US rapper TI was outraged by revealing that he forces his 18-year-old daughter to take an annual "virginity check" at the gynaecologist.

The Grammy-winning musician told a podcast how he accompanies his daughter, Deyjah Harris, to the doctor's office after each birthday to "check her hymen."

"Usually, the day after her birthday party, while she checks her presents, I put a note on her bedroom door: 'Gynecologist. Tomorrow 9:30,'" said TI, whose real name is Clifford Harris, to presenters.

According to Harris, these consultations began after Deyjah's sixteenth birthday, and his daughter must sign a statement allowing the doctor to share the "results" with him.

The podcast episode was released on Tuesday, but appeared to have been removed on Wednesday afternoon (5) after viralizing on social networks.

Users quickly condemned Harris's behaviour and expressed concern for Deyjah.

"It is extremely abusive to monitor the hymen of your daughter, and any doctor involved in such an act should lose his license," wrote writer Ijeoma Oluo on Twitter.

The presence of an intact hymen - which can easily be broken without sexual activity - is not considered an effective way to prove virginity.

In the podcast, presenters Nazanin Mandi and Nadia Moham laugh at Harris's comments, and jokingly say that their daughter would be a "prisoner."

The 39-year-old rapper has won three Grammy Awards and is known for his collaborations with Rihanna and Justin Timberlake.

He was arrested in 2009 for trying to buy an illegal automatic weapon from traffickers who were actually undercover cops, returning to prison two years later for drug possession.