Stormzy Offers Apology For Offensive, Homophobic Tweets

U.K. Grime rapper Stormzy had a PR mess to deal with earlier today, after some old tweets that featured offensive and homophobic language caught some public attention.

The tweets, which have since been deleted, saw Stormzy using the word "fag" or "faggot" several times, even directing the slur towards one of his followers at a certain point. He was much younger at the time and perhaps not fully aware that the Internet doesn't forget things like this easily. You can check out some of those regrettable posts here, courtesy of Metro U.K.

The rapper took to Twitter to apologize earlier today, calling his inexcusable actions for what they were. "I said some foul and offensive things whilst tweeting years ago at a time when I was young and proudly ignorant," he said. "Very hurtful and discriminative views that I’ve unlearned as I’ve grown up and become a man." He went to say that the comments were disgusting in nature and that he feels very badly now, as an older and wiser member of society, that he ever said them.

"The comments I made were unacceptable and disgusting, full stop," he continued. "Comments that I regret and to everyone I’ve offended, I am sorry, these are attitudes I’ve left in the past." While content to blame these comments on youthful ignorance, he ended his string of apology tweets by assuring his fans that this wasn't some half-baked excuse. "I take responsibility for my mistakes and hope you can understand that my younger self doesn’t reflect who I am today," he added.

As heartfelt as that long-winded explanation may have felt to certain people, others who turned up in the reply sections for those tweets were less enthused by the rapper's response. Some called it merely a ploy to protect as much of his business interests and/or his public image as he could, while others chalked it up to overt political correctness. Whatever the reason, it's clear that Stormzy is trying to his best to move on and rebuild at least part of his persona without those embarrassing tweets attached. Check out a sampling of the fan response below.