YouTube star Liza Koshy apologizes for racially insensitive videos
She acknowledged her past jokes were "tainted with implicit bias."
Liza Koshy is the latest YouTube star to face backlash over a couple of 2016 videos that resurfaced last week, of which Koshy and her then-boyfriend, David Dobrik, used mock Japanese accents.
In response to the controversy, Koshy posted a statement to her Instagram and YouTube pages on Sunday, apologizing for her past actions.
"While we focus on systemic anti-Black racism in our country, I've been hesitant to center my voice," the 24-year-old admitted. "My work has been within but I now recognize and take responsibility for the times I was not the ally I am becoming today. Being anti-racist requires a personal reckoning, and I can't in good faith continue to use my platform for progress without taking accountability myself."
She then stated how she is taking accountability.
"I am taking inventory, taking initiative and and taking note that my impact and influence will weigh greater than my intention," she continued. "What I once thought of as 'innocent jokes' were actually tainted with implicit bias, and what might have been intended as 'playful' was actually to some, incredibly painful. And for that, I am sorry."
Koshy added, "As a woman of color and a self-defined 'little brown girl' I have experienced that harm of prejudices in my own life. However, this reality does not exempt me from the responsibility of acknowledging the times I've unknowingly perpetuated racist ideas. I see now that some of my previous influences and my own past thinking, speaking and storytelling reinforced stereotypes."
She ended her apology by stating that from this point on she will be an "ally in action."
Just last Friday, another YouTuber, Jenna Marbles, whose real name is Jenna Mourey, quit the platform in light of past videos that critics deemed racist.