Rosa (@AdamRayOkay) Apologizes For Racist, Deleted Tweets
Posted by Matt Ryan on
Adam Martinez, who's more commonly known as Rosa, has found himself in hot water with racist, N-word filled tweets from the past (and not-so-distant past).
The TikToker first apologized on Sunday, April 5, after Twitter user @LilNasXsTwin posted screenshots of three old tweets from 2013 and 2014. In two of them, Adam uses the N-word. In one, he called Nicki Minaj "ghetto," a word historically used to marginalize and disparage black people.
i am heavily disgusted. what is this @ADAMRAYOKAY i was a huge fan and to find this just brings me into distraught. 😔😪 pic.twitter.com/F6o7XlhFIu
— j*y ➐ (@LilNasXsTwin) April 5, 2020
Just a half hour later, Adam responded to the tweet as it began to go viral, and apologized for his old, racist tweets. He also clarified that he had since gone back and deleted them.
These are disgusting!!! My mind at the time of these was so immature and I didn’t realize how words can fucking hurt somebody, but that gives no validation for them. I deleted them because that is not what I represent and I am deeply sorry to anybody I offended.
— ADAMRAYOKAY (@ADAMRAYOKAY) April 5, 2020
However, since those first three screenshots were posted, more tweets were brought to light, including an instance of Adam using the N-word in 2018. This defeats the "it was a long time ago" defense that many try to use in these scenarios.
he said it in 2018 lmao that was literally yesterday pic.twitter.com/7B0Y8kYfKH
— cry$ (@youngthugluvr) April 6, 2020
This resulted in another apology from Adam on Monday, April 6, in which he claims to have learned from his past mistakes.
I am deeply sorry to anybody I have offended. I learn and grow every day and will never try and justify my old ignorant tweets. There was a point in time I didn’t realize how much words can hurt someone. The lack of knowledge I had back then does not represent who I am today.
— ADAMRAYOKAY (@ADAMRAYOKAY) April 6, 2020
Overall, the internet's reaction has been mixed to the news. They expected better from Rosa. They expected better from the Latinx community. While some have tweeted #RosaIsOverParty, others want to accept the apology and move on.
But most of all, it's important to remember that only the Black community can accept, or not accept, Adam's apology.