My music video not racist: Avril Lavigne

Los Angeles: Singer Avril Lavigne defends her new music video slammed by critics for the track "Hello Kitty" saying it is not racist.

The 29-year-old released the promo, Tuesday, which sees her singing Japanese phrases surrounded by an group of Asian dancers, but it was later deleted due to the controversial content, and now the singer insists the video was specifically for Japanese fans, reports contactmusic.com.

Avril took to Twitter Thursday to defend the video, posting: "RACIST??? LOLOLOL!!! I love Japanese culture and I spend half of my time in Japan. I flew to Tokyo to shoot this video ... specifically for my Japanese fans, WITH my Japanese label, Japanese choreographers AND a Japanese director IN Japan."

The clip has since reappeared on YouTube Thursday and has received hundreds of 'dislikes' in terms of its disapproval rating.