Amid a standup at the Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix in 2011, Katt Williams went on a xenophobic rant against a Mexican heckler in the audience who had disrupted his performance. “Do you remember when white people used to say go back to Africa? And we’d have to tell them we don’t want to? So if you love Mexico, B***h, get the f**k over there,” Williams hurled at the heckler before going on to sing the United States national anthem, as Entertainment Weekly reported. Unsurprisingly, Williams’ comments drew backlash from social media users who accused him of discrimination. “KATT WILLIAMS WENT IN ON MEXICANS LMAO… he’s another one that’s borderline racist,” one person wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Damn. Just found out Katt Williams is racist against us Mexicans,” a second user tweeted.
Responding to the backlash, Williams issued a statement to Radar, noting that his comments were not ill-intentioned. “I want to apologize if my comedy act was taken out of context. … I sincerely appreciate my fans within the Mexican community and would never intentionally go out of my way to offend them,” the comedian explained. In a surprising turn of events, however, Williams soon rescinded his apology in an interview with CNN, admitting that the previous statement was from his publicist. “I meant what I said and I said what I meant,” he reiterated.
