KSI apologizes for using racial slur, urges fans to not 'put me on pedastal'

YouTube star KSI has issued a public apology for using a racist jibe in his latest video.

The 29-year-old influencer gained recognition as part of the YouTube group The Sidemen, who make spoofs, sketches, and challenges to entertain their audience.

The latest video uploaded on the channel featured the troupe recreating Channel 4’s Countdown challenge in which they compete to come up with a nine-letter word.

KSI named his team “N*****” and when he struggled to come up with a word, he spit out, “P***”, and tried to defend it saying, “We need points and I don't mean this maliciously.”

The content creator invited substantial backlash for his ignorant remarks, with one of the Twitter users simply branding it “unacceptable.”

“Genuinely upset that (a guy my children love) did this & thought it was funny,” BBC presenter Bobby friction wrote. “The rest of them laughing can go [expletive] themselves too. People dehumanizing brown people like it normal.”

KSI Announces Social Media Break:

After it all went down, the influencer took to Twitter to apologize for his actions as well as announce an indefinite hiatus from social media.

“I wanna apologise for saying a racial slur in a recent Sidemen video,” he tweeted. “There’s no excuse, no matter the circumstances, I shouldn’t have said it and I’m sorry.”

The kickboxer recounted that he has “always said to my audience that they shouldn’t worship me or put me on a pedestal because I’m human.”

Noting that “I’m not perfect,” KSI wrote that he’s gonna “gonna mess up in life,” admitting “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,” he added.