TikTok star Larray has issued an apology after comments he tweeted as a teen resurfaced and caused uproar online.
Larray, real name Larri Merritt, is a 22-year-old TikTok influencer who at the time of writing has around 13 million followers and almost 350 million likes. He is well-known for his comedy content, and for being a member of popular TikTok collective, the Hype House.
He found himself in hot water in July when YouTuber Tyler Oakley slammed Hype House members and associated influencers for hosting a huge party in honor of Larray’s birthday. He apologized to Tyler for this and said he “will do better.”
But he was thrown into the line of fire again recently when comments he had made via Twitter in 2011 began to resurface.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CD4Qmh5nsJO/
Among the comments, he made a joke in reference Hot Topic employee trying to sexually assault him, followed by a smiley face.
After fans demanded an explanation and an apology, Larray took to his second account to explain. “I was 13 years old who didn’t know better,” he said. He told fans that he knows that subject matter isn’t a joke and said “please stop letting my old tweets affect any of you.”
Following his first apology, he deactivated his second account. When people weren’t satisfied, he finally took to his main account to form a longer apology.
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TW //
this morning tweets resurfaced from 2011 of jokes i made about rape. as a victim of rape i know isn’t a fucking joke. i didn’t deactivate because of the fear of being canceled, i was triggered and overwhelmed of the topic of rape. pic.twitter.com/TaFCkcosnz
— larri (@larray) August 14, 2020
He clarified that he is also a victim of sexual assault, and deleted his side account because he was “triggered and overwhelmed” at the subject matter. He explained that he “tweeted a lot of stupid sh*t as a kid,” and apologized to those he had hurt.
on my second account i said “please stop letting my old tweets effect any of you when i was in middle school.” what i meant by that is i tweeted a lot of stupid shit as a kid & no of them were tweeted in a malicious way. i am obviously more educated than i was 9 years ago.
— larri (@larrayxo) August 14, 2020
Some felt as though it was unfair that because of comments he made as a child he was forced to “share something personal.” Others clarified that “unless you’re a victim of sexual assault, this isn’t your apology to accept.”
https://twitter.com/DIORAMIES/status/1294452579049648129
Unless you’re a victim of sexual assault this isn’t your apology to except.
— Harmony (@harmonybeee) August 15, 2020
At the time of writing, Larray’s second account has remained deactivated, but his primary Twitter and TikTok accounts are still active.
