Stormzy has issued an apology after a number of homophobic tweets he issued several years ago resurfaced, with the British grime MC and hip-hop artist insisting that his views have evolved significantly in the intervening years.
U.K.-based LGBTQ media site Pink News unearthed the tweets from three years ago, in which he used homophobic slurs and mocked gay characters on TV shows, and asked other Twitter users if they were “gay” based on their interests.
As Pink News reports, one Twitter exchange saw Stormzy insist that it’s “proper gay” for men to “dance, style their hair, show affection towards other men, not have sex before marriage or own a teddy bear.”
Following the publication of his old tweets, Stormzy took to Twitter to offer an apology, taking responsibility for his comments but insisting that he’s now become far less “ignorant” than he was then.
“I said some foul and offensive things whilst tweeting years ago at a time when I was young and proudly ignorant,” he tweeted. “Very hurtful and discriminative views that I’ve unlearned as I’ve grown up and become a man.”
“The comments I made were unacceptable and disgusting, full stop. Comments that I regret and to everyone I’ve offended, I am sorry, these are attitudes I’ve left in the past,” he said, adding: “I take responsibility for my mistakes and hope you can understand that my younger self doesn’t reflect who I am today.”
You can read his entire apology below:
