KSI slammed for using racial slur during Sidemen show

3 April 2023, 17:27

"There’s no excuse, no matter the circumstances, I shouldn’t have said it and I’m sorry"

KSI has been slammed for using a racial slur during one of his shows.

The 29-year-old YouTuber, who has over 24 million subscribers, was taking part in a Countdown-themed quiz show as part of the Sidemen Show series when he used his letters to spell out the word "p--i". In the now-deleted video, KSI's co-stars were laughing along at his slur.

The whole situation caused friends, fans and viewers to slam the social media star for his insensitive and harmful language.

"I had this racial slur thrown at me & got physical beats by racists for my entire childhood," BBC presenter Bobby Friction tweeted along with a repost of the video clip. "Genuinely upset that @KSI (a guy my children love) did this & thought it was funny. The rest of them laughing can go f**k themselves too. People dehumanising brown people like it normal."

"Nah @KSI you’re not funny man you cannot say “P*ki” in any context These lot will do anything for content," another viewer wrote.

Meanwhile, Writer Jason Okundaye said that KSI "deserved" the onslaught of hate that came as a result of his actions. He said: "KSI deserves every bit of hammering and I don’t wanna hear any excuses or downplaying, particularly not in the name of black people when he’s been anti-black himself for years."

Since the incident went viral, KSI has apologised for his actions. In a tweet posted on Monday, April 3, he wrote: "I wanna apologise for saying a racial slur in a recent Sidemen video. There’s no excuse, no matter the circumstances, I shouldn’t have said it and I’m sorry. I’ve always said to my audience that they shouldn’t worship me or put me on a pedestal because I’m human."

The social media celebrity closed out his statement by saying he would be spending some time away from the internet. KSI wrote: "I'm not perfect, I’m gonna mess up in life, and lately I’ve been messing up a lot, So I’ve decided I’m gonna just take a break from social media for a while."

The Sidemen Twitter account also posted a statement apologising for the slur.

Jake Paul, who has fought KSI in several boxing and wrestling matches, posted a lengthy tweet criticising KSI's apology. "Fake guy with fake apologies every other week," he wrote. "I hope you take this more serious than taking a break off social media so you can focus on training and then reappearing two weeks before your fight saying you’re a new man."

Jake added: "Meet with British South Asian community leaders, get with the right charities and give back. I made my own mistakes in my early 20s but we are too old for this behavior. I look forward to knocking you the fuck out on behalf of all South Asians around the world. You 30 year old prick."

While it's unknown how long KSI's social media hiatus will last, KSI was posting Wrestlemania content just hours before issuing his apology.

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