Musician, content creator, and popular YouTube personality KSI is publicly apologizing for using a transphobic slur.
"Hold up, people actually think I’m transphobic?" KSI asked his fans on his Twitter account just yesterday.
When one follower pointed out that he misgendered someone in one of his recent videos with YouTube collective Sidemen and has used the infamous t-word slur in the past, KSI responded, saying "Didn’t even mean is midgender. Just said that the person had a better beard than me, that’s all. And I honestly didn’t even know that tr*nny was a bad word. What’s the correct term to use?"
He continued to apologize in follow-up tweets, saying "My bad for saying transgender slurs. Honestly didn’t even know they were slurs. I know now though."
"2021, positive vibes only. Need to stop with the hate man. On all sides. Including people who support me. Life’s too short to be angry and hateful towards other people. Only way we advance is with positivity."
But this isn't the first time this week that a British celebrity has had to publicly apologize after hurling transphobic slurs. 31-year-old popstar and "Rather Be" singer Jess Glynne just issued a lengthy social media apology earlier this week after she rightfully received backlash from the LGBTQ+ community for using the notoriously anti-trans t-word slur during an appearance on The Mo Gilligan Podcast.
"The language I used on the podcast was unacceptable, as someone that has always been immersed in the LGBTQ+ community, I have witnessed first hand the progress that has been made when it comes to language, I am ashamed that I was unaware of the potency of the T-slur until now," Jess wrote.
She continued:
"I have been fortunate enough and privileged enough to spend time today talking to the transgender model and activist @danistjames who has educated me about the power of that word and how it has been historically used as a weapon against so many. It is often the last word someone hears before they are brutally attacked or even murdered, similar to the anti-gay F-slur, the T-slur is commonly used to humiliate and degrade transgender individuals. Murders and attacks are commonplace in this community and safe environments are paramount. I now understand how insulting it was to see a clip of me and @mothecomedian laughing at a story which I should have known better than to tell and casually, thoughtlessly using a word that is a dehumanising, dangerous slur to so many."
It's 2021. Let's leave a harmful and ugly word that has been used to degrade and oppress trans people for decades where it belongs: in the PAST and in the TRASH.
