I have had a YouTube channel for a while where I have posted interviews, streams and commentary on various topics.

Last week I reviewed a debate involving Konstantin Kisin, where I made some hyperbolic statements that I considered a joke and expression of frustration, which I do regret. Since then, some of my comments have been taken in a short video by a large YouTuber, which has resulted in me receiving many death threats, as a result I have chosen to take my channel down, as I do not see anything productive coming from that. That being said, I do think that I ought to make some form of public statement for the record.

First, I need to apologise for the things I said. Whilst my video was not directed toward Kisin, but rather was commentary expressing resentment as entertainment for my audience, I need to clarify and make it absolutely clear that I myself have no intention of harming Konstantin Kisin or anyone for simply disagreeing with me. I do not think anyone SHOULD be attacked or harmed for political commentary. I do not want anyone to act in a way toward Kisin to harm him, and I do not believe that people should break the law and commit acts of violence against others.

I know I have not contributed towards improving our divisive politics through my statements, and for that, I am sorry.

I’m not proud of the things I said, though I think I rightly should say that in the video about me that has been produced, my words have been taken out of context and placed within a dramatic narrative of the creators commentary and framing, surrounding clips no longer than a few seconds of me, in order to present an extreme, but appealing-as-enemy, caricature of my views and intentions. I believe that this represents the kind of sectarian and unproductive politics that I have been contributing towards and I am certainly not saying this to deflect from the fact that I too am guilty of leaning into provocative and emotionally engaging content in order to generate views.

That being said, the reaction to this video has provided me with an opportunity to reflect on the ways that my consumption of vitriolic political content has caused me harm, leading to small distortions in my soul and character, leading me to express my frustrations in unproductive and sometimes stupid dark jokes which go on themselves to perpetuate this cycle of sectarian and sensationalist politics which I dislike and oppose. That doesn’t help to make any of our lives any better.

I will be thinking about what this means for my engagement in these topics going forward. I may or may not come back to the channel, but if I do, it will be when I feel I can avoid the attention-grabbing and harmful aspects and bring something positive and productive.