Liza Koshy Apologizes For Mocking The Japanese Language In An Old YouTube Video

YouTuber and television personality Liza Koshy took to Instagram on Monday, June 29 to publicly apologize for two old videos of hers that some found to be offensive. In the videos which were posted in 2016, she and fellow YouTuber David Dobrik were tasting food from Japan and Hawaii. At one point, they appeared to mock the Japanese language, according to Deadline.

In one particular clip, Dobrik read off the names of the various food items, appearing to attempt to mispronounce them on purpose. He then gave his own imitation of the Japanese language. Koshy, his then girlfriend, told him “no” repeatedly but did not tell him to stop.

“It’s not racist, that’s like the sounds I hear when they talk,” Dobrik said.

The video clips resurfaced in recent weeks, which resulted in criticism for both Koshy and Dobrik.

In her apology, Koshy shared a quote from Ibram X. Kendi, as reported by Insider.

“You can be someone who has no intention to be racist, but because you’re conditioned in a world that is racist and a country that is structured in anti-Black racism, you yourself can perpetuate those ideas. No matter what color you are,” the statement read.

Koshy is a woman of color herself, but emphasized that gave her no excuse to not apologize and take responsibility for “unknowingly perpetuat[ing] racist ideas.”

Koshy is a comedian who is known for taking on many different made up characters for skits and videos. She is also known for doing a variety of different accents with these impressions. Looking back now, it appears she regrets some of the decisions she made that may have worked to promote stereotypes, even if that was not her intention.

“I see now that some of my previous influences and my own past thinking, speaking and storytelling reinforced stereotypes. I created characters of different cultures with the intent of celebrating them, but with the impact of appropriating them,” she said within her apology.

She finished up her statement by pointing out that even if someone means well but hurts another by their actions, the hurt outweighs the good intentions. She concluded by promising to do better and to be ally for other cultures moving forward.

Dobrik has not yet publicly apologized for the controversial video clips.

As The Inquisitr previously reported, Koshy is not the first YouTuber in recent days to come forward with an apology after receiving criticism for their old content. Popular creator Jenna Marbles apologized for insensitive videos last week and vowed that she would be leaving the YouTube platform.