Ninja apologizes after using racial expletive on stream

Tyler “Ninja” Blevins is apologizing for using a racial expletive during a stream, saying it’s his responsibility to make his stream inclusive to everyone and he failed.

Blevins tweeted out a four-part apology this morning, after news outlets began reporting on his potential use of a racist term while rapping during a recent Fortnite stream. Blevins said that although he’s confident it was “a misunderstanding” and didn’t mean any ill intention, he needs to do better for his community. Blevins’ full apology can be read below:

While I am confident that most of this is a misunderstanding, I recognize that it’s my responsibility to never let there be THIS kind of a misunderstanding. More than anything, I hate that any of my friends, fans, or viewers might feel disrespected.

It is my job, and hopefully I’m usually good at it, to make everyone feel welcome, valued, and safe to be themselves. So I apologize to anyone who might feel hurt because I NEVER want that. It’s my stream, and it’s on me to make that right.

The best way I can explain it is that I promise that I understand how much pain that word causes, even if it gets used a lot in music and elsewhere. It’s a word historically used to divide people, and I’m about bringing people together.

I promise that there was no mal intent (I wasn’t even trying to say the word-I fumbled lyrics and got tongue tied in the worst possible way). Again, I apologize for offending anyone and appreciate you all rocking with me.

The clip, which can be seen below, features Blevins rapping along to Logic’s song “44 More,” and substituting a word used in the song with a derogatory, racist term. Blevins was criticized for using the term during the stream, but drew in a bigger discussion about his intent. Some people argued that he shouldn’t be using the word to begin with, while others suggested that because he used it in a song, it was not as malicious.

Twitch’s own guidelines state that “when reviewing reported content or activity, we will consider its intent and context,” including how that relates to derogatory, hateful or racist language.

Blevins has become one of the biggest Twitch streamers in recent months, thanks to the success of Fortnite. He made headlines around the world earlier this month, when he casted a record-breaking stream with Drake.

A Twitch representative did not comment on whether Blevins’ channel will face action because of the word he used.