Photo: EUGENE GARCIA/AFP via Getty; Pebe Sebert /Tiktok

MILWAUKEE, WI - AUGUST 6: Suspected serial killer Jeffrey L. Dahmer enters the courtroom of judge Jeffrey A. Wagner 06 August 1991. Dahmer has been charged with eight additional counts of first-degree murder, bringing the number of homicides he is charged with to 12. The judge increased Dahmer’s bail to five million dollars. He was sentenced to fifteen consecutive life terms or a total of 957 years in prison. Dahmer was killed by a fellow prisoner, Christopher Scarver, 28 November 1994 at Columbia Correctional Institution, Portage, Wisconsin. (FILM) (Photo credit should read EUGENE GARCIA/AFP via Getty Images); Kesha’s Mom on Jeffrey Dahmer Lyric in Song Cannibal. https://www.tiktok.com/@pebesebert/video/7149919821059099947?_r=1&_t=8WBErnwLYZH&is_from_webapp=v1&item_id=7149919821059099947.

Kesha’s mom Pebe Sebertis addressing the line in her daughter’s hit single “Cannibal” which name-drops the infamous serial killerJeffrey Dahmer.

In the TikTok caption, she wrote, “Some context on the lyric that’s bothering people 12 years later. All opinions are valid. Not meant to shut anyone down, just more info.”

“The whole Jeffrey Dahmer lyric in ‘Cannibal’ is a big controversy right now,” Sebert began in the video. “I thought I’d justsay a few things about itbecause that was my line that I wrote in ‘Cannibal.'”

She explained, “At the time, Kesha and the other writer were too young to even know who Jeffrey Dahmer was. Literally, the way it happened is I have this rhyming program called Master Writer for Songwriters. We were looking for a rhyme for ‘goner,’ at the very end of the widest rhymes was Jeffrey Dahmer. I was like, ‘Oh, my God, that’s a perfect lyric.'”

For more on the backlash surrounding the Jeffrey Dahmer Netflix series, listen below to our daily podcast PEOPLE Every Day.

Sebert continued: “Not to be insensitive to anybody whose families were involved in this and lost loved ones. At the time, it was a song that we were writing about Kesha. It was a tongue-in-cheek funny song. It was not actually about cannibalism. It was just a title.”

“I’m sorry for anyone who’s lost a family member in this tragedy,” Sebert added. “We certainly never meant to hurt anybody or make anybody feel bad. There’s a [series] out right now that’s kind of bringing attention back. The song’s been out for more than 10 years, probably almost 12 years. This is not something that we’ve recently written.”

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

Kevin Mazur/Getty for NARAS

NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 28: Recording artist Kesha and mother Pebe Sebert attend the 60th Annual GRAMMY Awards at Madison Square Garden on January 28, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for NARAS)

Noting that “Jeffrey Dahmer was just part of the culture back then,” she added, “Everybody talked about him for many years. What he’d done was so extreme, and so worse than anyone had ever done that anybody knew about.”

In the “Cannibal” lyric, the name of the serial killer was mentioned during the verse: “Use your finger to stir my tea // And for dessert I’ll suck you teeth // Be too sweet and you’ll be a goner // Yeah, I’ll pull a Jeffrey Dahmer.”

Starring Evan Peters asthe titular serial killer, the new Ryan Murphy crime Netflix dramafollows Dahmer’s numerous grisly murders through the lens of his victims.

The series wasfirst announced in March 2021. It has since renewed interest in the story of the killer, as well as prompted responses from the victims’ families, with one membersharing that the show is “retraumatizing” his family.

Dahmer raped, murdered, and dismembered at least 17 men and boys in Milwaukee, Wis., between 1978 and 1991, shocking the world with the extent of his crimes, including cannibalism and necrophilia.

While the current series gives a closer look at his victims, it also highlights the one victim who got away and whoplayed a significant role in Dahmer’s eventual arrest.

source: people.com