9-1-1 actor Ryan Guzman has issued a second apology for defending his and his wife’s previous use of racial slurs.
“I know my thoughtless words and actions have hurt people and I apologize,” Guzman said via social media on Wednesday.
“I am truly sorry, hold myself accountable and take full responsibility for my defensiveness and ignorance.”
He continued, “I support the Black Community with my whole heart and I am educating myself and listening with an open heart and mind.”
“I promise to use this experience to learn and grow and make real change.”
The backlash towards Guzman emerged Sunday, when during an Instagram Live broadcast, he was asked about previous tweets in which his wife used the N-word.
“I have plenty of friends — Black, white, Asian, Indian, whatever they are, Korean — and we make fun of each other’s races all the time,” he responded.
“We call each other slurs all the time. We don’t get butthurt at all because we know the actual person, we know who each other are.”
“We know that we’re not trying to bring each other down. So, what are y’all trying to get at? You’re trying to prove that somebody that’s not racist is racist? Nah.”
“You don’t have that power. There is no racist energy coming from this household at all.”
Fans were stunned by his comments and asked what his 9-1-1 co-stars thought of them.
“There is absolutely no excuse for the use of the N-word. It belongs to the Black community only and I absolutely don’t agree with it being used by anyone else under any circumstances,” said Oliver Stark, who plays Buck on the FOX drama.
Fans even lobbied for FOX to fire Guzman from the series, and the actor offered up his first apology on Monday, saying that he “misspoke” when he said that he and his wife used “slurs.”
“I do not condone the use of the N-word by any non-Black person,” he said at the time. “That includes all Latinos. That’s not our word.”
That first apology did not go down well, and could explain the second, more sincere one.
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Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.