Hey everyone, its Sussan Mourad here with Clevver News and one TikTok star is apologizing
for some of his past behavior in hopes of forging a better future.
Josh Richards of the “Sway House” was in a reflective mood and released a lengthy
statement about how he’s moving forward from his past mistakes to be a better person.
Josh started off his post by addressing the tattoo he has on his arm.
The tat reads, “with power comes responsibility,” a famous line from Spider-Man that Uncle Ben
utters to Peter Parker.
The motto has a lot of meaning to Josh as his Dad also said the words to him.
He explained it in his statement, saying, quote; “Recently, I took the much-needed
time to self-reflect.
In the process, I proceeded to look at the words tattooed on my arm.
This made me realize the gravity of my role in my supporter’s lives — something I
feel I have often neglected.”
He continued; “I told myself, “I won’t let this homage to my dad be just some arbitrary
ink on my arm.”
When I concluded my self-reflection, I knew — from that moment onward — I needed to
make concrete changes on the constant quest to bettering myself.
So what changes does Josh need to make?
Back in April, he got into a lot of trouble for pulling his pants down in an attempt to
recreate a phone-dropping, backside-showing TikTok trend.
He failed, and joked about it in a series of now deleted Tweets, saying stuff like “Yo
kinda legendary tho.”
He issued an official apology on Twitter the next day.
Josh wrote, quote; “I have a responsibility because of the followers I’ve been blessed
with, last night I took advantage of that.
I’m going to try harder to think before I act.
It was never my intention to have leaked what got shown but I made that mistake and understand
the consequences.”
He continued; “I am not going to be constantly bringing this situation up for immature purposes.
I’m going to think about what I’ve done and learn from it.”
A few days later, Josh addressed the issue on YouTube, but he seemed to be joking around
about the whole incident.
Going back to Josh’s official statement, it appears he’s sorry for that behavior
and is looking to change.
He wrote, quote; “With that, I would like to apologize to everyone: my supporters, my
Sway House family, my team, and my community.
I let the fame get to me; I allowed the LA partying lifestyle to consume me; and I lost
my way for a bit.
I forgot why I was here.”
Josh actually announced a few weeks ago that, along with Jaden Hossler, he was taking a
break from the Sway House.
He said, quote; “I have decided to focus on furthering my projects & ventures in the
entrepreneurial, music, social media, and artistic.....industry.
Jaden & I have decided to go on a hiatus from Sway.
Love you all, and will always love my sway family.”
A few days later, Josh announced that he was launching “Buddy’s Hard,” a clothing
company that would feature a black hoodie saying “Buddies Stronger Together” with
100% of the proceeds going to the NAACP.
Josh told the Blast quote; “My roommate Jaden Hossler and I were sitting down amidst
the tragedy and brokenness of our Nation; we felt an innate responsibility to use our
platform for something greater than ourselves.”
In his recently released statement, he emphasized that he wanted to continue to give back and
to make sure his behavior didn’t tarnish the good he was trying to do, saying, quote;
“Using my platform is something I’ve always believed in.
It’s why I addressed the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January to educate people about
climate change.
It’s why I participated in the All In Challenge to help families and kids struggling during
COVID.”
He continued, saying; “But all the good I’ve done feels tarnished
to me because of my recklessness.
I would often justify my wrongdoings by looking at the good things I have done, but that was
just a mirage of self aggrandizement and faux altruism.”
We here at Clevver also want to give back and make sure we’re doing our part in continuing
to support the Black Lives Matter movement.
We’ve linked some resources and places to donate down in the description below, as we
continue to cover these important stories and have these important conversations regarding
injustices suffered by the black community.
Also, if you have a few extra minutes, please take a moment and click right over here to
watch this video to know why the Black Lives Matter movement is so important to us here
at Clevver.
Please share your thoughts on Josh’s apology down in the comments below.
I’m Sussan Mourad, bye guys.