Dancer Kani has issued a public apology after remarks she made in a YouTube video drew accusations of racism, saying she is sincerely sorry to anyone who was hurt by her words.
According to SPOTV News, Kani posted a lengthy statement in English on her social media on November 10, addressing comments from a video uploaded to her own YouTube channel on November 4. In the video, whose title translates to “First Look at the Dawn Fruit Wholesale Market Where Kani’s Husband Worked for 10 Years (+ Pregnancy Plans),” she said Black people like watermelon, chicken and Fanta, a remark that quickly drew criticism online.
“First, I sincerely apologize to everyone who was hurt or felt uncomfortable because of my words,” Kani wrote at the start of the statement, adding that she wanted to address the remarks from her recent YouTube appearance. She acknowledged the sensitivity of the foods she had named, writing, “I understand that the combination of watermelon and fried chicken is connected to a painful history related to racial stereotypes in the United States. I sincerely regret that my remarks may have hurt someone.”
Kani also explained the cultural background behind the joke. She said she was born and raised in France and is a Black woman with French and Senegalese roots, noting that the culture she experienced is not necessarily the same as the one Black Americans have experienced. She said the joke was improvised, based on familiar cultural references, and that she had not intended to invoke American racial stereotypes.
The foods Kani mentioned have long been used as demeaning stereotypes about Black Americans in the United States, where the watermelon and fried chicken tropes trace back to the post-slavery era and were widely used in racist caricatures. That history is why the remarks drew swift backlash even though Kani said she had not meant them that way.
Kani is a dancer active in the Korean entertainment scene, known for her dance content and personal YouTube channel. The November 4 video at the center of the controversy was filmed around her husband’s workplace, a dawn fruit wholesale market where he worked for a decade, and also touched on the couple’s pregnancy plans.
No further comment from Kani or other parties had been reported as of the SPOTV News report, and it remains to be seen whether the apology will settle the criticism.
