KSI Apologizes for Racial Slur, Takes a Break From Social Media

Publish date: 2024-06-05

British YouTuber, rapper and boxer Olajide Olayinka Williams JJ Olatunji, known professionally as KSI, has apologized after a racial slur and will take a break from social media.

KSI is a co-founder and member of YouTube group the Sidemen. On Sunday, KSI and the Sidemen appeared in a video based on U.K. game show “Countdown” where the contestant chooses between two stacks of letter tiles, one containing vowels and the other consonants and has 30 seconds to form the longest single word they can, using nine letters.

KSI formed the word “P**i,” a pejorative term used to describe people of South Asian origin in the U.K., saying: “I don’t mean this maliciously, but the word’s P**i.” The offensive word was bleeped. KSI’s fellow Sidemen are evidently amused by the slur in the video.

Related Stories

Characters from Call of Duty BO6 VIP+

One Year Later, ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’ Legitimizes Microsoft-Activision Deal

US comedian Tony Hinchcliffe speaks during a campaign rally for former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden in New York on October 27, 2024. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP)

Tony Hinchcliffe Called Puerto Rico a 'Floating Island of Garbage': His Hate Disguised as Comedy Wasn't Funny or a Joke

The clip drew massive outrage on social media including from leading arts practitioners hailing from the South Asian community.

Popular on Variety

Actor, writer and producer Guz Khan, BAFTA nominated for “A Man Like Mobeen,” posted a series of tweets, one of which said: “You see @KSI the issue you have here is that a lot of Pakistanis can make things very difficult for you and anyone giggling in this video. When they catch up with you, I hope the dead countdown joke was worth it…”

You see @KSI the issue you have here is that a lot of Pakistanis can make things very difficult for you and anyone giggling in this video.

When they catch up with you, I hope the dead countdown joke was worth it…😬

Wakey Wines was getting his compensation in advance. https://t.co/rHeZGJyDlr

— Guz Khan 🥶 (@GuzKhanOfficial) April 2, 2023

DJ Bobby Friction tweeted: “I had this racial slur thrown at me & got physical beats by racists for my entire childhood. 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”

I had this racial slur thrown at me & got physical beats by racists for my entire childhood.

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 https://t.co/AYGqbxnuhm

— Bobby Friction (@bobbyfriction) April 2, 2023

The offensive video has since been removed from the Sidemen YouTube channel and KSI has issued an apology.

“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,” KSI tweeted. “I’ve always said to my audience that they shouldn’t worship me or put me on a pedestal because I’m human. Im 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.”

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. Im not…

— ksi (@KSI) April 3, 2023

Read More About:

Jump to Comments

More from Variety

Most Popular

Must Read

Sign Up for Variety Newsletters

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. // This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Variety Confidential

A Variety and iHeartRadio Podcast

ncG1vNJzZmiukae2psDYZ5qopV9nfXN%2Fjp2goKGklrlwusSwqmijo556s63CopilZaOhwrN5wKmmpaeXrnpyfpJubHBpZG2GcA%3D%3D