Lakeith Stanfield has issued a video apology for a homophobic freestyle he chose to upload to Instagram.
According to Lakeith, he regularly assumes different characters that have different viewpoints on life. He says in the case the ‘character’ making homophobic rhymes was not him — and he doesn’t agree with those beliefs.
“I make videos all the time, which I usually end up deleting as soon as I make them,” he says in the clip. “I assume characters that have different viewpoints and different views on life, just from different perspectives. Some things my views are in line with, and some things my views aren’t in line with. And this character that you’ve seen is a character I’m definitely not in line with, and I definitely don’t believe those things.”
He continues,
“I’ve never been homophobic. I’ve never agreed with homophobic thought or hatred towards anyone for that matter. I’m a person that moves in love and I want to promote and continue to push that—and love for all people and all different types of love in every form it takes.”
“I just want people to have a clear understanding because sometimes I make these things that could be very offensive and I don’t always have the luxury of context. So I want to give people the context of me and let them know I’m not with that. I’m not with that at all. I apologize if it hurt anyone sincerely. That wasn’t my intention to just be somebody that was out here just slinging arrows and hurting people, so I want them to know that I apologize if they had to feel sadness from that. My sincerest apologies.”
“Assuming a character” sounds like a bit of a cop-out to us, but we give him credit for his explanation. Kanye should take notes.
https://twitter.com/lakeithlakeith/status/1011700081559400448
