Rapper and YouTuber turned boxer KSI has apologised for making a racist slur in a recent YouTube video.
In a recent video with his YouTube group, The Sideman, where they were playing a Countdown challenge, KSI made the slur.
From his selection of letters, KSI created a four-letter derogatory word for people of Pakistani origin.
Since airing the video, people have taken to social media to call out the slur, with heavy criticism in the way the group laughed after KSI said the slur.
Tech blogger Safwan Ahmed, known as Super Saf tweeted: I don’t believe @KSI is racist but the fact that the clip was published in the first place and the way everyone in it was laughing it off clearly highlights that unfortunately, racism and racial slurs against South Asians are just not taken seriously.
Popular radio Dj, Bobby friction also tweeted his disgust at KSI. He said: “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.”
The video has since been deleted, KSI has issued a grovelling apology and has said he will be taking a break from social media.
“There’s no excuse, no matter the circumstances, I shouldn’t have said it and I’m sorry,” the 29-year-old tweeted.
“I’ve always said to my audience that they shouldn’t worship me or put me on a pedestal because I’m human.
“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.”
KSI, whose real name is Olajide William Olatunji, rose to fame with his YouTube channel The Sidemen with more than 18 million subscribers. His channel regularly features challenges and sketches alongside a number of other internet personalities.
The incident comes after KSI featured at WWE’s Wrestlemania over the weekend dressed as a mascot in a huge Prime suit.
He was accidently put through a table by his former rival – and now Prime business partner – Logan Paul at the event.
