YouTuber Jenna Marbles Quits Over Blackface - BBC News

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HomeNewsSportBusinessInnovationHealthCultureArtsTravelEarthAudioVideoLiveWeatherNewslettersYouTuber Jenna Marbles quits over blackface26 June 2020ShareSaveShareSave

YouTube

YouTuber Jenna Marbles has announced she's leaving the video sharing site.

In an eleven-minute video, she talks about what she describes as "shameful" content she's made in the past.

The 33-year-old has apologised for racist and sexist videos, including an impersonation of Nicki Minaj.

The comedian - who has more than 20 million subscribers - says she's "moving on" from YouTube but doesn't know if it's just for now or forever.

Getty Images

In a teary video posted to her page, she says it's a time when we're all "purging ourselves of anything and everything toxic".

"There's a couple of things that people want me to address and apologise for and I'm happy to do that," she says.

After making a number of old videos private, Jenna addresses three in particular. These include a 2011 blackface impersonation of Nicki Minaj.

This is where someone who's usually white, paints their face darker to impersonate someone of a different race.

"I just want to tell you that it was not my intention to do blackface. It doesn't matter, all that matters is that people were offended. It's shameful, it's awful. I wish it wasn't part of my past," she says.

Jenna also addresses another 2011 video where she makes derogatory comments about an Asian man and a 2012 video where she describes herself as "slut-shaming".

YouTube

"I ranted about girls that ran around and slept around and that's wrong. I had a lot of internalised misogyny."

All of these videos have now been made private. But after years of entertaining subscribers with her content, Jenna says she's not having fun anymore.

"For now, I just can't exist on this channel. Hopefully I've taken down anything that would upset someone and I hope you know that's just not my intent, that's not what I ever set out to do.

"So I think I'm just gonna move on from this channel for now."

Jenna says she doesn't know how long this will be for, but thanked her followers for their support.

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