Shameik Moore apologized Thursday for a series of controversial tweets in connection to the murder of George Floyd and other recent instances of police brutality.
The Wu-Tang: An American Saga star wrote on the social media platform that Black people were capable of saving or protecting themselves from racist violence.
“Look… all I’m saying is.. in the MOMENT.. when we are experiencing racism.. can we the black community find ways to avoid being killed? Or hunted,” wrote Moore in one tweet.
“See I have a very strong opinion that the black community hates to hear.. but needs to hear… we need to learn how to deal with police… and or racism… because THIS is the part of the scenario we have failed to fix,” he wrote in another tweet.
The tweets, which came days after a video showing a White police officer in Minnesota murdering a Black man named George Floyd went viral, were met with swift backlash.
Hours later, Moore claimed his tweets “were taken out of context” and asked his followers to join him in an Instagram Live session where he could properly apologize “against” his “team’s advice,” he noted.
“Again, I’ll just say for the people watching: I did not mean to offend any of the Black community,” the Dope actor said while speaking on Instagram Live with his friend Jeremy Strong.
“My heart is in a place of growth. I want us to grow,” he continued, adding that he felt the problem was “how I said it” and “when I said it.”
“It was wrong timing,” Moore added. “I f–ked up in that way.”
The Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse star said he failed to fully think through the implications of his statements and that these themes will be explored in his future film work.
“I didn’t consider that what I’m saying could be taken so left, because I feel like I am Black and I feel like I do things behind the scenes people don’t even know about,” he said. “There’s scripts being formed literally about what we’re talking about, but if I had just stuck to my art then it just would have been like, ‘Oh, this movie’s dope.’ ‘Oh, this video’s dope.’ So that’s where I went wrong and I’ll apologize.”