Music

“Silly And Inappropriate”: Amy Shark Apologises Following TikTok Video Backlash

"[It was] silly and inappropriate and honestly I never meant to cause any upset."

by Jules LeFevre  4 May 2020
Amy shark tiktok

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Amy Shark has apologised after coming under fire for posting a TikTok in which she uses audio from a racist stand-up routine.

The TikTok, which Shark uploaded late last month, uses an audio track taken from a routine by comedian Anjelah Johnson, in which she impersonates a person supposedly of Asian descent working in a nail salon.

The video was picked up by comedian Nina Oyama on Twitter on Sunday evening, who called it out as “stupid bullshit.”

“Don’t forget to check on ur white friends in isolation to make sure they aren’t doing stupid bullshit like this,” Oyama wrote in a since-deleted Tweet, which contained Shark’s video.

“Don’t cancel Amy Shark,” Oyama added in another deleted Tweet. “Just get her to delete it and maybe explain to her why it’s bad. The sound is a popular TikTok dub, which ripped off a racist stand up routine from ten years ago.”

Shark was swiftly criticised for the video, which has since been deleted from the app.

In a Tweet this morning, Shark apologised for the video, calling it “silly and inappropriate”.

“I am sorry if I offended anyone, I can see that the TikTok i posted a couple of weeks ago was silly and inappropriate and honestly I never meant to cause any upset,” she wrote. “I have taken down the video. Love you all.”

The audio track is highly popular on TikTok, with thousands of videos featuring the track.