In an age where everything’s online, influencers are always at risk of people discovering unsavory things from their past. In 2018, YouTuber Laura Lee found this out when her racist tweets from 2012 surfaced. This was a bad look, but Lee managed to add an element of cringe with the inevitable apology video.
Lee’s apology is an extremely uncomfortable watch. Content-wise, she does own up to her past mistakes, says she’s sorry, communicates that she has changed for the better, makes zero excuses, and even quite reasonably requests that people don’t harass her family members over her actions. However, the message is more than slightly obscured by the blubbering, tearful delivery that comes across as self-pity more than anything else … especially once the viewer spots that despite Lee’s constant wiping of her eyes, there’s nary a tear visible.
Perhaps understandably, Lee went on to spend some time offline. When she returned, she posted a new video that effectively apologized for how her original apology came across, and announced that she’d be deleting the crying clip from her channel. Cringy YouTube apology videos are one thing, but feeling the need to apologize for your original apology takes things to a whole new level.
