'The Bachelorette' Contestant Justin Glaze Apologizes For 'Ignorant' & 'Hurtful' Tweets
Making amends! Bachelorette star Justin Glaze has publicly apologized for his past problematic tweets.
Over the weekend, tweets allegedly written by the 27-year-old when he was a teenager, dated between 2009 and 2011, resurfaced on Reddit. He allegedly used homophobic slurs and made disparaging comments about Black women.
Glaze appeared on the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast with Becca Kufrin and Tayshia Adams on Tuesday, July 13, to clear the air.
"One of the biggest takeaways for me was just my personal growth, and one of those things is being able to hold myself accountable, which is something that historically I wasn't able to do. So, I have no issue with owning up and apologizing from the bottom of my heart for the really hurtful words that I used," Glaze said.
"The last thing that I want to do is run from it. That's not who I am. I just want to speak from the heart, and hopefully, people will get an understanding of where I was then versus where I am now. When I look back at 14-year-old Justin, I was in high school and quite frankly I was the type of person who for whatever reason felt the need to fit in and say funny things and keep up with what my peers were doing and saying," the TV personality continued. "The folks I had associated with would throw around really hurtful slurs that, at the time, I didn't really think anything of."
Glaze clarified that he did not want his fans to defend him or make excuses because what he said was "ignorant" and "hurtful" at the time — and still is now.
"No matter how long [ago] it was, those words shouldn't have come out of my mouth," he explained. "I'm obviously in a much different place now, over a decade later as a 27-year-old and I can look back and be ashamed of the words that I used."
Glaze also explained that he has grown and matured as a person since then, and is now "a totally different version of Justin than I was."
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The artist said that the criticism was a "wake-up" call and reminded him of the work he still needed to do when it comes to being an ally.
"Unfortunately, [at that time], my underdeveloped brain wasn't thinking, 'How can these words hurt people later on in life if they were to ever resurface?' I'm not making any excuses. I need to be fully held accountable for my actions and my words," he added. "I fully understand that, and I just want people to know that I've changed immensely since then and I'm fully aware of the weight that my words carry."
Reactions were mixed when it came to his apology.
"I hope he truly has matured since then. Sounds like he wasn't the most sensitive, empathic 14-year old. A lot of people — but not all of them — were a******s at 14. Unfortunately, many of them are still a******s later, but maybe Justin isn't," one user wrote. "Anyway, I doubt anyone will care."
"He was 14 , let’s move on," another commented.
"I hope #TheBachelorette #JustinGlaze is sincere about his apology," a third user noted.
Glaze is currently competing for Katie Thurston's heart on season 17 of The Bachelorette.
