KSI announces break from social media amid controversy

KSI has apologised for using a racial slur in a recent YouTube video, released April 9, and announced he will be taking a break from social media.

Olajide William Olatunji, better known as KSI, used a derogatory slur towards the South Asian community in a video from YouTube group The Sidemen.

The video was a take on TV gameshow Countdown, where contestants try to make the longest word from the nine random letters chosen, and KSI chose to make the four-letter slur from the selection of letters.

There’s no excuse, no matter the circumstances, I shouldn’t have said it and I’m sorry

–KSI

Despite the term being censored in the original video, the following conversation made it clear what was said.

The video has been taken down and The Sidemen put out a statement on Monday afternoon saying they “are truly ashamed that we let ourselves and you guys down in this way”.

KSI also released a personal apology in the early hours of Monday morning.

“There’s no excuse, no matter the circumstances, I shouldn’t have said it and I’m sorry … I’m not perfect, I’m gonna mess up in life, and lately I’ve been messing up a lot.”

He proceeded to inform his followers that he is going to “take a break from social media for a while”.

Racism towards South Asians is so normalised that not only does it get laughed at, it gets shared publicly for clout

–Twitter User @MadihaBlob

Twitter users have criticised KSI for using the slur, as well as the rest of the group for laughing at the comment. One user, @MadihaBlob, said: “Racism towards South Asians is so normalised that not only does it get laughed at, it gets shared publicly for clout … KSI had better not plead ignorance now.” However, other Twitter users have argued the criticism is unfair, comparing it to using the words “Brits” or “Poles” for other nationalities.

With over 18 million subscribers on their main YouTube channel, The Sidemen are some of the biggest creators on the platform. The future consequences of this incident are yet to be seen.