Stormzy admits he was wrong to send ‘foul and offensive’ tweets as he apologises to fans for mistake
Rapper claimed homophobia he expressed in tweets from years ago is an attitude he's 'left in the past'
STORMZY has issued an apology for dozens of homophobic tweets he posted that have been unearthed from as recently as 2014.
The Croydon-born rapper says his now-deleted tweets - which featured the words "f*g", "f****t" and "proper gay" as insults - showed he was "proudly ignorant", but insisted they expressed "attitudes [he's] left in the past".
Two of the offensive tweets by the award-winning grime star - who has spoken out about LGBTQ rights since hitting the big time - were posted while he was watching TV.
Referring to a young performer he was watching on BBC show School For Stars in 2012, he tweeted: "Put it on BBC1 this little black boy is a f***ing f*g."
Before that, in November 2011, he commented on EastEnders' gay couple Christian and Syed, tweeting: "Loooooool u see syed run into christians arm. F***ing f*g."
In tweets between 2011 and 2014, the 24-year-old also referred to others as "a lil f****t", "a big f****t" and "so gay and ugly".
Some of the insults were directed at men who cared for their appearance, had made a vow of chastity or owned a teddy bear.
In a four-tweet apology online, Stormzy admitted today that "discriminative" words like "f*g" were "part of his vocabulary" before he became famous.
He wrote: "I said some foul and offensive things whilst tweeting years ago at a time when I was young and proudly ignorant.
"Very hurtful and discriminating views that I’ve unlearned as I’ve grown up and become a man. The comments I made were unacceptable and disgusting, full stop.
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"Comments that I regret and to everyone I’ve offended, I am sorry, these are attitudes I’ve left in the past.
"The homophobic language I used was, embarrassingly, a part of my vocabulary when I was younger and… ignorance made me feel comfortable to use them whilst not understanding the hate and the ramifications they carry.
"That isn’t an excuse, I take responsibility for my mistakes and hope you can understand that my younger self doesn’t reflect who I am today."
He concluded with: "Again, I’m sorry to everyone I’ve offended. To the LGBQT community and my supporters and friends, my deepest apologies."
Stormzy rose to stardom with hits like Shut Up and Big For Your Boots and has worked with Little Mix, Ed Sheeran and Linkin Park among others.
As well as being a huge supporter of Jeremy Corbyn, he's spoken out on his depression and how tough it is for black men to talk about their mental health.
Among the other huge stars who have faced a backlash over offensive historic tweets recently are Zoella and I'm A Celeb's Jack Maynard, who has been sacked from the show following the revelations.
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