One of YouTube's most popular content creators Liza Koshy has issued an apology for 'perpetuating racist ideas' in her old videos. Koshy was known for characters like Jet, Helga and Carlos, which she now acknowledges as being based off of harmful stereotypes.
"I see now that some of my previous influences and my own past thinking, speaking and storytelling reinforced stereotypes," she wrote in a statement shared to Instagram. "I created characters of different cultures with the intent of celebrating them, but with the impact of appropriating them."
Liza also faced backlash for a resurfaced taste-test video she shared in 2016 featuring David Dobrik.
The clip shows the pair mimicking the Japanese language, and when Dobrik says, "It's not racist, that's like the sounds I hear when they talk," Koshy replies with "No, no, it's not racist as long as I keep saying 'no.'"
"What I once thought of as 'innocent jokes' were actually tainted with implicit bias, and what might have been intended as 'playful' was actually to some, incredibly painful," she said in her statement. "And for that, I am so sorry."
Liza also went on to say that an important aspect of true allyship is owning up to the ways that we may have contributed -- even unknowingly -- to racism in our society.
Read her full statement below.