A
British YouTube collective has apologized after they posted a video in which one member used a racial slur that sparked outrage from fans on social media. In a now-deleted YouTube video posted on April 2, a group of YouTubers known by the nickname the "Sidemen," who have 18 million subscribers on their joint channel , were playing their own version of the British television game show "Countdown," where players are given a group of letters and have to respond by coming up with a word that can be made by rearranging those letters. In a clip from the video that has been re-uploaded on
Twitter by various users, KSI — the group's most popular member who has 24 million subscribers on his individual YouTube channel — said, "I don't mean this maliciously," before appearing to say a racial slur that is used in the
UK against people of South Asian descent. Editing on the video bleeped out the audio on his response, but users on Twitter inferred that this was his answer based on the letters in the round of the game, and the fact that the rest of the group could be seen laughing and looking shocked in the clip. Users responded to the clip, which has gone viral on Twitter, by saying they thought the YouTuber's answer was offensive towards people from South Asian communities who have had this word used against them, and that it was unacceptable for the other group members to have laughed or tolerated his response. "Genuinely upset that @KSI (a guy my children love) did this & thought it was funny. The rest of them laughing can go f**k themselves too. People dehumanising brown people like it normal," wrote Bobby Friction, a DJ and radio presenter for the
BBC. "The more I watch this, the angrier it's making me. Cannot believe grown men are sat there laughing at a racial slur. So many of my students adore KSI/Sidemen and watch them - so worrying. Shame to all those involved, including the camera and editing crew," wrote another user whose bio suggests they're a teacher in the UK. On April 3, KSI, whose real name is JJ Olatunji, tweeted an apology statement, acknowledging he used the word and writing: "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. So I've decided I'm gonna just take a break from
Social Media for a while," he added. A few hours later, the Sidemen's official Twitter account released its own statement , which said the inclusion of the racial slur in the video was "unacceptable and inexcusable," and "the fact the statement was made light of on the show was wrong and compounded the hurt." "We want to use our channels to promote positivity and good entertainment. We stand against discrimination of any kind and we failed to do that. Again, we are truly sorry and promise to do better," the statement concluded. Olatunji rose to fame by posting gaming videos that often featured his group of
Friends, who all had their own YouTube channels but became known collectively as the "Sidemen." In 2016, the influencers formed a group "Sidemen" channel and began posting weekly videos of them playing
Football games and taking part in challenges together. Olatunji has developed a large presence outside of the YouTube world, having released his own
music in collaboration with mainstream artists like Rick Ross and Lil Baby, and having forged a career in
boxing, previously fighting against controversial internet star Logan Paul , among others. In January 2022, Olatunji and Paul co-launched their own energy drink called PRIME, which has become immensely popular amongst teens and sparked a cutthroat black market for reselling the product in the UK, Insider previously reported. Representatives for Olauntji and the Sidemen did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. For more stories like this, check out coverage from Insider's Digital Culture team here.