KSI visits mosque and apologises for “hurt and disappointment” after using racial slur

KSI has visited a mosque in Bradford and apologised again for using a racial slur in one of his YouTube videos.

The rapper, boxer, gamer and YouTube personality received backlash earlier this week, following a video of him with his group The Sidemen. In the footage, KSI played a Countdown-style game with the group, and created a four-letter derogatory word for people of Pakistani origin.

Following an initial apology, KSI has now used a boxing preview event to apologise again for the “hurt and disappointment” caused, and visited a mosque to “educate himself”.

Shared to Twitter, the new footage shows the rapper – whose real name is Olajide William Olatunji – visiting Bradford’s Al-Hikam Institute, and “educating himself” on the impact of the slur.

The clip, which has over 1.7million views, shows the 29-year-old wearing a red covering during the visit, and listening to Imam Muhammed Asim Hussain.

In the footage, the Imam can be heard discussing KSI’s recent controversy. He said: “With the intention of malice, even those probably sat on the side, they probably didn’t understand… they might have just been like laughed off. He’s here to learn about what it is, he’s never been in a mosque.”

Following the visit, another of the mosque’s leaders, Hafiz Asad Hussein, spoke to BBC Asian Network about the YouTuber and said that he has “taken a step” to rectify the situation.

According to Hussein, KSI “dropped his head” when he was told about the impact of the slur and the repercussions it may have on the “kids [who] look up to him”.

KSI visited Al-Hikam Institute, a mosque in Bradford pic.twitter.com/8eA664EsXl

— Sidemen Updates (@sidemenupdated) April 4, 2023

Elsewhere, Isman Malik, who attends the mosque, also explained that it was “a step in the right direction” for KSI to reach out to the community because the conversation helped “educate him”.

“He must not [have] realised it’s a hurtful thing to hear,” he said. “We’re taught in Islam to forgive. So he’s reached out and we’ve drawn a line.”

KSI first apologised for the video in a Twitter post earlier this week (April 3). Here, he wrote that there was “no excuse” for using the slur, and added that he has been “messing up a lot” in recent months.

He also told his fans that he will be taking “a break” from social media following the backlash. At the time of the video’s release, The Sidemen group’s channel had more than 18million followers and KSI had over 16million subscribers.

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