The boxer-turned-YouTuber KSI has issued an apology for using a racist slur in a recent YouTube video. The British rapper, whose full name is Olajide William Olatunji, has also stated that he will be taking a social media break.
During a Countdown challenge video with his YouTube group The Sidemen, he made the offensive remark.
KSI invented a four-letter pejorative term for individuals of South Asian heritage from his pick of letters.
The 29-year-old wrote,
“No matter the circumstances, I shouldn’t have said that and I apologize.”
“I’ve always told my audience that because I’m human, they shouldn’t worship me or put me on a pedestal.
“I’m not perfect, I’ll make mistakes in life, and I’ve been making a lot of mistakes recently.”
The video has since been removed from The Sidemen’s social media, and the group has been criticized for laughing after KSI made the offensive remark.
Later on Monday, The Sidemen tweeted an apology for the “totally abhorrent and reprehensible” remark.
“The fact that the incident was trivialized on the show was insensitive and exacerbated the pain,” they added.
Newsbeat has reached out to KSI reps for further comment. Yet, some of KSI’s supporters are unconvinced by his apologies and cannot believe the video was uploaded to YouTube.
Aisha, age 21, tells Newsbeat,
“This name carries so much animosity and rage.”
“I believe that his younger audience does not perceive anything wrong with that, which is revolting.
“I find it so revolting that he said it so calmly and nonchalantly, with his pals laughing about it, and that they saw nothing wrong with the phrase.
I do not believe that his apology is genuine either. Hamza, a KSI fan, is surprised that the offensive term was not removed from the video.
The 27-year-old told Newsbeat,
“Many people watched it multiple times and thought, ‘Yes, that’s fine’ because it was uploaded to YouTube.”
“I believe this is worth highlighting, as it testifies to the normalization of a certain form of racism.”
Mehreen Baig, a teacher, and broadcaster, also criticized KSI for the insult, stating,
“This is not humor.”
“This is incredibly upsetting from KSI and his team,” she wrote on Twitter.
“So many of my students look up to these men, and yet they casually use a term that has been routinely employed to humiliate and persecute South Asians.”
KSI rose to prominence alongside The Sidemen and is frequently featured in sketches on their YouTube channel, which has over 18 million subscribers.
It follows his appearance as a big Prime mascot at WWE’s Wrestlemania this weekend, a tribute to his wildly successful energy drink.
At the gathering, he was accidentally thrown through a table by his former adversary and current business partner at Prime, Logan Paul.
On March 2021, KSI tweeted an apology for using “transgender insults” in the past. I now know, however.”
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