Billie Eilish Is 'Appalled And Embarrassed' After Video Surfaces Showing Her Mouthing Along To Racial Slur
Setting the record straight! Billie Eilish is apologizing after a slew of past videos, edited together in a compilation, resurfaced that show the singer seemingly mocking non-English speakers and using slurs found to be racial and homophobic.
The “bad guy” crooner issued a statement on Monday, June 21, via her Instagram Stories saying she was “appalled and embarrassed” for mouthing along to an anti-Asian slur in Tyler the Creator’s 2011 song “Fish,” which uses the derogatory term “ch**k.”
"I love you guys, and many of you have been asking me to address this. And this is something I WANT to address because I'm being labeled something that I am not. There's a video edit going around of me when I was 13 or 14 where I mouthed a word from a song that at the time I didn't know was a derogatory term used against members of the Asian community," she wrote, adding she wants "to barf that I ever mouthed along to that word."
Eilish added that during the song “was the only time I’d ever heard that word as it was never used around me by anyone in my family,” she wrote. “Regardless of my ignorance and age at the time, nothing excuses the fact that it was hurtful. And for that I am sorry.”
The video circulating on TikTok, appeared to show the 19-year-old singer using an accent that many believed was mocking Asian people. She denies outright the words having any connection to human speech in any form, claiming it was “gibberish.”
Eilish explained the “silly” voice is “something I started doing as a kid and have done my whole life when talking to my pets, friends, and family.”
She continued: “It is in no way an imitation of anyone or any language, accent, or culture in the SLIGHTEST. Anyone who knows me has seen me goofing around with voices my whole life. Regardless of how it was interpreted, I did not mean for any of my actions to have caused hurt to others, and it absolutely breaks my heart that it is being labeled now in a way that might cause pain to people hearing it."
The “bury a friend” songstress went on to encourage fans to have uncomfortable conversations with people in order to learn from past mistakes.
“I not only believe in, but have always worked hard to use my platform to fight inclusion, kindness, tolerance, equity and equality,” she wrote. “We all need to continue having conversations, listening and learning. I hear you and I love you.”
This isn't the only trouble Eilish has faced in recent days. As OK! previously reported, the singer's rumored boyfriend, Matthew Tyler Vorce, owned up to making homophobic and racist comments.
“I want to apologize for the things that I wrote on social media in the past. The language I used was hurtful and irresponsible and I understand how offensive those words are,” the 29-year-old wrote in a statement posted to his Instagram Story last week. “Whether it was a lyric, a quote or just me being dumb, it does not matter.”
