Emily Ratajkowski‘s husband, Sebastian Bear-McClard, has admitted that he was wrong for using the N-word after he was called out for using the racial slur.
“I used a word casually like it was mine to use,” the Uncut Gems producer tweeted on Thursday, June 4. “It’s not, it never was, and never will be. In the past few years I’ve learned a lot about my privilege as a man and as a white person and about the history of racism in this country. Owning our missteps is a crucial part of changing the way the world operates. I’m embarrassed and ashamed and I sincerely apologize to everyone who I may have hurt.”
The apology came after Ratajkowski, 28 — who is an avid Black Lives Matter supporter — shared via Instagram that she sometimes felt “so useless” while protesting racial inequality.
BET’s style director Danielle Prescod commented, “I actually have an idea. You could start by talking to your husband, a white man, who has used the n-word repeatedly in my presence. So much so that another black friend was so disgusted she left [the party where he said it]. Another black woman had the same exact experience.”
She added, “You probably have never seen this behavior. I would like you to address the issues in your home and then you can help us out here. I would like you to ask him what he can do differently … I mean this with the utmost sincerity. It was hurtful and abusive.”
The model and Bear-McClard tied the knot at a courthouse in New York City, in February 2018. A source told Us Weekly at the time that Ratajkowski had known the producer “for years” before they got married.
Bear-McClard isn’t the only celebrity backtracking after receiving backlash for using the N-word. Bachelorette alum Hannah Brown came under fire after she was caught saying the slur via Instagram Live in May.
Later that month, the former beauty pageant queen, 25, — who admitted that she was intoxicated during the Live — said that she regretted her actions and strived to learn from her mistakes.
“I don’t want to be ignorant anymore,” Brown said via Instagram. “I don’t want to be an ignorant white girl who uses the N-word. But I also don’t want be someone who goes on their platform intoxicated and engages with their platform that way. … I have learned that there are things that I cannot say. …There is so much more historical context that I didn’t know that makes it so much more inappropriate.”
