KSI apologises for racial slur in YouTube video and announces ‘break from social media’

KSI has apologised after using a racial slur in a recent YouTube video.

The internet personality, rapper and boxer announced that he was taking a “break” from social media after the clip prompted widespread backlash.

In the footage, produced for the YouTube channel Sidemen, KSI (real name Olajide Olatunji) could be heard using a derrogatory slur aimed at Pakistani people.

After KSI used the word, others in the clip could be seen bursting into laughter.

The video, titled “Sidemen Sunday Countdown”, was removed from the channel a day after first being uploaded last week.

Sidemen is a YouTube channel in which KSI, along with other content creators such as Miniminter, Zerkaa, TBJZL and W2S, create videos as a group.

In a tweet shared on Monday morning (3 April), KSI addressed the controversy.

“I wanna apologise for saying a racial slur in a recent Sidemen video,” he wrote. “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.”

He continued: “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.”

Back in 2021, KSI issued an apology for his past use of transphobic slurs on his YouTube channel.

After being called out by a fan for using a transphobic slur, and for misgendering someone, he wrote: “Didn’t even mean to misgender lol. Just said that the person had a better beard than me, that’s all. And I honestly didn’t even know that t****y was a bad word.”

In a follow-up tweet, he wrote: “My bad for saying transgender slurs. Honestly didn’t even know they were slurs. I know now though.”