YouTuber and rapper Olajide “KSI” Olatunji has issued an apology after using a racial slur in a video in which the recently turned boxer and his YouTube group, the Sidemen, were appearing in a Countdown-like game show.
Twitter user Kini shared a clip of the video in which the Watford-born KSI mouths the offensive four-letter word for a South Asian:
Viewers can’t hear KSI say the words as the video’s editors bleeped them out in post production, but the damage is nevertheless done, with KSI admitting there was “no excuse, no matter the circumstances” for saying what he did.
defo grown up alongside South Asians and know what that word means”
Twitter user @Abuy2j was one out of many to condemn KSI’s actions. He added that the reactions of “chunkz and filly who’ve defo grown up alongside South Asians and know what that word means” made the slur even worse.
In his apology, KSI said he was “not perfect” and he’d “been messing up a lot” lately and that he will be taking a timeout from social media for a while.
KSI won his latest boxing match in January, beating FaZe Temperrr in a first-round knockout. Despite being originally meant to fight MMA’s Dillon Danis – a bout in which he was the favorite, KSI’s latest win continues to build momentum for an inevitable clash against “influencer-boxing” rival Jake Paul.