YouTuber Randy Rainbow has apologised after dozens of Tweets were discovered on his timeline that critics have slammed as racist and transphobic.
He responded by saying, “I am in no way a racist. I am in no way transphobic… I’m embarrassed by [the tweets]. They make me sick to my stomach.”
In numerous Tweets, he used race as the punchline and in some, he used the T slur, which some in the transgender community offensive.
The tweets, some of which date back to 2010, have now been deleted from his timeline, but screenshots still remain, you can see them over at Queerty.
‘Not funny with no context or nuance’
In an interview with the Advocate the performer made an apology by way of explaning that the tweets were offensive, “especially with no context or nuance”.
He told them, “Twitter has recently reminded me about 10 years ago, in my maiden quest to be funny, I tweeted some jokes that were completely offensive and insensitive to look back on them now, especially with no context or nuance and through the prism of where we are in 2020 with racial inequality and the fight for social justice, which I’m proudly a part of”.
“I deeply apologize to anyone I offended”
“In light of issues that are now at the forefront, which I’m passionate about and have spoken up about over the years, these tweets just sound racist and awful. I’m embarrassed by them. They make me sick to my stomach, in fact, and I deeply apologize to anyone I offended.”
“I am known as the guy who calls out bigotry and racism, which is what I want to do”
He ended by asking his fans to remember that he is a comedian and not a politician.
““I am a comedian. I’m not a politician … This scandal I’m going through might seem a little more scandalous to some because I now have this voice in the political world. I am known as the guy who calls out bigotry and racism, which is what I want to do. That’s how I want to use my platform. That’s what’s really in my heart. So these recent tweets resurfacing are not skeletons in my closet; they’re crappy jokes in my shoebox from a decade ago. I think we just need to be careful about considering the source.””
