“Did you all have the same apology template”: Sidemen under fire for series of apology tweets on KSI’s recent racism row

Sidemen are still under fire after KSI's racist remarks during last Sunday Special video as individual members who had apologized for the incident recently got called out on social media for repeating similar talking points while asking for forgiveness from the community. The April 2 video in question featured an inappropriate "joke" made by KSI aimed at the South Asian community.

After receiving severe backlash, almost all members of the UK group publicly apologized. However, several individuals have criticized them for not being sincere with their apologies. Some even accused the group of using the "same apology template." Here's a comment on Ethan "Behzinga" Payne's post illustrating the point:

"Did you all have the same apology template?"

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Why are KSI, Miniminter, Behzinga, Vikkstar, and other Sidemen members getting flak for their apologies after the racial slur controversy?

For those unaware, in the latest Sidemen Sunday Special video that was posted, the popular YouTuber KSI made a remark and used the derogatory term "Paki" to refer to people of South Asian descent.

Since the term was used to denigrate brown people in general and not just those of Pakistani origin, many South Asian activist groups have condemned the usage.

The video was later taken down, and the Sidemen apologized for using the racist term both individually and as a group on Twitter and other social media platforms. However, many fans and viewers felt these posts weren't authentic with replies like the one below littering Twitter and Instagram:

In his apology, Behzinga addressed his individual as well as his YouTube group's responsibility not to use derogatory terms towards any community. He also talked about his role in the video, where'd he laughed at the racist remark, saying it was unacceptable. Here's what he stated:

"Regarding the events that took place in the last Sidemen Sunday, I wanted to personally apologise for my reaction. Laughter around a word which has such impact on the South Asian community isn’t acceptable... As an individual and a group we failed on our responsibilities to take care of the influence we hold..."

A similar type of apology came from fellow Sidemen member Vikram "Vikkstar" Singh Barn, who had more to say on the issue, considering his own South Asian heritage. He mentioned his ethnicity and expressed disappointment at not being able to stop himself and the group from making the mistake. He said:

"As a South Asian, I fell short of my responsibility to ensure this racial slur, that sadly I’m all too familiar with, is not tolerated nor trivialised. This is a mistake I won’t ever make again."

Other members — such as Zerkaa and Miniminter — have also made posts on the matter, echoing similar sentiments:

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More Twitter reactions to Sidemen apologies

As mentioned earlier, a sizeable section of social media has called out the YouTube group for using the aforementioned racial slur. They also criticized the way each member had used similar points in their various apology posts:

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The most controversial of the apologies was probably from KSI himself, who was called out by notable media personalities such as Guz Khan for his usage of the term.