Shane Dawson Apologizes For His Past Videos & Takes Accountability For Racist Actions

Shane Dawson is taking accountability for his past actions in a new video on his channel.

The 31-year-old influencer opened up about his past apology videos and admitted that they weren’t the real apology he wanted to make.

“Every apology video I have ever made has been from fear. It’s me sitting at home, thinking the whole world hates me and crying and hyperventilating and then just turning on a web cam and just saying I’m sorry and hoping people know I’m a good person and then it’ll go away,” Shane shared in the video. “That is stupid. That is something a child does.”

Shane added that watching Jenna Marbles’ apology video for her own actions inspired him to record this one.

“I was at least 20 when I started YouTube. I made the decision to play stereotypes of Black people or Asian people or Mexicans, or pretty much every race. I made that decision. I said, ‘Oh, this is funny,’ and I put it on the internet’,” Shane said. “Now years later, I look back at that — when I say I hate that person, I mean it in the most intense way possible. That person was filled with sadness, filled with anger…[was] in the closet..I hate that person so f***ing much.”

Now, Shane is vowing to do better – on YouTube and in his life.

“I’m sorry that I added to the normalization of blackface or the normalization of saying the n-word,” Shane shared. “And my justification at the time for that was, ‘Oh I was playing a character and it was in comedy and my Black friend was there and that makes it okay.’ No it’s not okay.”

He adds, “It’s not a funny word especially for a white person to say. Me as a white person wearing a wig and playing a character and doing stereotypes and saying the n-word is probably what I should have probably lost my career for, at the time. And there’s no amount of apologizing that can take it away.”

You can watch his full apology below: