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Warden Wayne, the lead actor in the upcoming fan-made movie Spider Man: Lotus, has issued a statement apologizing for using inappropriate language, including racist slurs and homophobic comments, in the past as a teenager. Wayne, who will star as Peter Parker in Spider Man: Lotus, took to social media tp issue his lengthy apology. He expressed regret and embarrassment at the actions of his past self:
"I'm embarrassed and sad at who I was, and I'm sorry to anyone I may have hurt years ago, or to anyone I may hurt now by revealing this information."
"I hope you all can forgive me": Spider Man: Lotus actor apologizes for racist comments
Posting an apologetic message on Twitter, Wayne suggested that the screenshots in question were old. He was a teenager at the time who did not know any better, but his present 22-year-old self is aware that he what he did was wrong. In the post, he said:
“I was raised in a homeschooled conservative environment in a small town in Arkansas, where I had to sneak around on other iPads and computers to use social media. My family has always been associated with groups such as the Duggars, and those values were subsequently pushed onto me. I didn’t get my own cell phone till I was 19. I was in a bubble, where I wasn’t aware of how serious it was for me to say these things or these words. My ideas of right and wrong were skewed.”
He also talked about peer-pressure and how his past group of friends encouraged and normalized the usage of these harmful words. As a teenager, Warden just wanted to fit in the group. He explained in his apology post:
“My friend group at the time encouraged and perpetuated these habits. All of it quickly became a part of my vocabulary becauyse of the lifestyle around me, and I didsn’t want to be excluded. And I’m embarassed to say so. The groups I interacted with were not good people. But I wanted to fit in. ”
Ashamed and embarrassed by his past comments, Warden also apologized to people he might have hurt back then. He concluded the post saying:
“I hope you all can forgive me; I’m sorry.”
As usual, the reactions on Twitter were mixed. Many took the apology well and appreciated the Spider-Man star for publicly accepting and apologizing for his mistake.
However, the discussion did not just stop here. While some users were undeniably accepting, a few others were not ready to accept that the comments in question were actually as old as the Spider Man: Lotus actor insinuated. The actor chose to offer an explanation for the same through a series of tweets.
Warden Wayne's racist and homophobic comments, where he used certain derogatory words over and over again while also relentlessly bashing the Black community, were made public online recently. While Wayne has since clarified that he made those comments as a teeanger, he is yet to be completely forgiven on social media.
Wayne is playing the lead role in the upcoming Spider Man: Lotus, a fan-made film.
