Billie Eilish Apologizes After Surfaced Video Shows Her Mouthing Anti-Asian Slur: ‘I Am Appalled and Embarrassed and Want to Barf’
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Billie Eilish has issued a statement apologizing for a video that surfaced last week on Tik Tok, in which the pop star appears to mouth an anti-Asian racial slur.
The video, edited to include three clips, shows Eilish speaking in what she labeled as a “silly gibberish made up voice,” yet the Tik Tok user accused her of “mocking Asians.”
Eilish is also seen lipsyncing to Tyler, the Creator’s 2011 song “Fish,” which includes an anti-Asian slur, while another clip accuses her of “talking with a blaccent.”
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“I am appalled and embarrassed and want to barf that I ever mouthed along to that word,” Eilish wrote in a Monday night Instagram story, adding that she was 13 or 14-years-old at the time it was filmed.
“This song was the only time I’d ever heard that word as it was never used around me by anyone in my family,” she added. “Regardless of my ignorance and age at the time, nothing excuses the fact is that it was hurtful. And for that I am sorry.”
While Eilish received heat for the clip, fans asking her to address her use of the slur, Tyler, the Creator has received no pushback, despite the fact that she was mouthing a lyric in one of his songs.
The Grammy Award winner also claimed that the voice she was using in the video was “absolute gibberish” and “in NO way an imitation of anyone or any language, accent, or culture in the SLIGHTEST.”
“The other video in that edited clip is me speaking in a silly gibberish made up voice,” she wrote, adding that it’s “something I started doing as a kid and have done my whole life when talking to my pets, friends, and family.”
While maintaining she was not intentionally mocking anyone, Eilish apologized for the clip, noting, “Regardless of how it was interpreted I did not mean for any of my actions to have caused hurt to others and it absolutely breaks my heart that it is being labeled now in a way that might cause pain to people hearing it.”
“I not only believe in, but have always worked hard to use my platform to fight for inclusion, kindness, tolerance, equity and equality,” wrote Eilish. We all need to continue having conversations, listening and learning. I hear you and I love you. Thank you for taking the time to read this.”
Eilish’s apology comes after her boyfriend Matthew Tyler Vorce issued his own statement addressing past posts that show him using homophobic, sexist, and racist slurs.
“I want to apologize for the things that I wrote on social media in the past. The language I used was hurtful and irresponsible and I understand how offensive those words are,” he wrote. “Whether it was a lyric, a quote or just me being dumb, it does not matter.”
“I am ashamed and deeply sorry that I used them in any context. It is not how I was raised and it is not what I stand for,” he added. “I shouldn’t have used this language in the first place and I won’t use it again. I am so sorry for the hurt I have caused.”
Read Eilish’s full statement below:
I love you guys, and many of you have been asking me to address this. And this is something that I WANT to address because I’m being labeled something that I am not. There’s a video edit going around of me when I was 13 or 14 where I mouthed a word from a song that at the time I didn’t know was a derogatory term and used against members of the Asian community. I am appalled and embarrassed and want to barf that I ever mouthed along to that word. This song was the only time I’d ever heard that word as it was never used around me by anyone in my family. Regardless of my ignorance and age at the time, nothing excuses the fact is that it was hurtful. And for that I am sorry.
The other video in that edited clip is me speaking in a silly gibberish made up voice… something I started doing as a kid and have done my whole life when talking to my pets, friends, and family. It is absolute gibberish and just me goofing around, and is in NO way an imitation of anyone or any language, accent or culture in the SLIGHTEST. Anyone who knows me has seen me goofing around with voices my whole life.
Regardless of how it was interpreted I did not mean for any of my actions to have caused hurt to others and it absolutely breaks my heart that it is being labeled now in a way that might cause pain to people hearing it. I not only believe in, but have always worked hard to use my platform to fight for inclusion, kindness, tolerance, equity and equality. We all need to continue having conversations, listening and learning. I hear you and I love you. Thank you for taking the time to read this.
