YouTuber KSI is being roundly criticised after saying a racial slur in a recent video. As he faced a justifiable backlash for his use of the word, the YouTuber apologised and announced he is taking a break from social media.In a video for the Sidemen YouTube channel, KSI was playing a game based on Countdown where his team competed in trying to form the longest possible word using nine letters. KSI gave "P***" as his word. Other players are seen laughing in response in the video. The P-word is well known in the UK as a slur that has been used as racist abuse against people of South Asian heritage. The video has since been removed from the Sidemen YouTube channel.On social media, many expressed concern at KSI's use of the slur. "Been a KSI fan for the longest but so weird for him to say 'p***' in the latest Sidemen vid even if they bleeped it & it was 'in jest' for content", said writer Umir, on Twitter. "Other racial slurs wouldn't be used as punchlines for YouTube gameshows. Just makes light of the word + certain people's experience".
KSI apologised today for saying the slur. "I wanna apologise for saying a racial slur in a recent Sidemen video", he posted on his Twitter account. "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 perfect, I’m gonna mess up in life, and lately I’ve been messing up a lot." KSI ended his tweet by announcing that he is taking a break from social media.
The British YouTuber came up making gaming videos, while in recent years he has made a name for himself as a rapper and boxer, earning huge amounts fighting fellow YouTuber Logan Paul. But KSI (real name Olajide Olayinka Williams Olatunji) has also made headlines for bad behaviour. In 2012, KSI was accused of sexual harassment after making a video in which he made sexual remarks to women at the Eurogamer Expo. He was subsequently banned from all future Eurogamer events. In 2021, KSI had to apologise after using a trans slur. His brother Deji has also accused him of emotional and physical abuse, to which he responded that he was never told that he made him feel uncomfortable and "would've stopped" had he known.