Ryan Guzman Apologizes as ‘9-1-1’ Costars Slam His Defense of Racial Slurs
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9-1-1 star Ryan Guzman, known for playing Eddie Diaz on the series, turned to Instagram this week to “clarify certain things” after previously defending his fiancée’s use of racial slurs.
“Let me first start off by saying I do not condone the use of the N-word by any non-Black person. That includes all Latinos. That’s not our word,” he said in a video Monday, and after noting those who have used it in their music, continued to “address the real situation at hand.”
“When I said ‘slurs,’ I came from an angry place,” Guzman said, adding that he “couldn’t think straight, and I misspoke” after reading comments made about fiancée Chrysti Ane and his son. “I meant to say stereotypes,” he continued, which he says he “doesn’t condone,” and while he thinks friends can “make fun of each other … I’m not here to bring anybody down, no race down.”
He ended his apology, stating, “To those that I have offended in misrepresenting myself by using the wrong term. I stand by my try-fail-learn-grow state of mind, and I will continue to grow and continue to help out the community.”
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Earlier this week, Ane’s 2011 tweets using the N-word resurfaced, and on Sunday, she posted an apology on Twitter. “At the time I was dating someone of African American decent [sic] and started diving deeper into the culture,” she wrote. “At the time none of my friends found it offensive, but I must say I also didn’t fully comprehend the WEIGHT of the word. I didn’t comprehend the history, the struggles, the oppression.” Read her full statement here.
“I think she’s grown as a woman,” Guzman said in his video, nothing her apology.
The 9-1-1 actor came to his fiancée’s defense in an Instagram Live on Sunday. “I have plenty of friends—Black, white, Asian, Indian, whatever they are, Korean—and we make fun of each other’s race all the time,” he said. “We call each other slurs all the time. We don’t get butthurt at all because we know the actual person.”
His costars then addressed and criticized his comments on Twitter. “I know a lot of you want to hear my thoughts on what a cast member said today on IG live. I can tell you that my opinion is there is absolutely no excuse for the use of the n word,” Oliver Stark, who plays Guzman’s on-screen buddy Evan “Buck” Buckley, wrote. “It belongs to the Black community only and I absolutely don’t agree with it being used by anyone else under any circumstances.”
… anyone else under any circumstances.
— Oliver Stark (@oliverstarkk) June 1, 2020
When asked how she feels, Aisha Hinds, who stars on 9-1-1 as Henrietta “Hen” Wilson, wrote, “How I FEEL daily is a perpetual state of GRIEF. There’s sadly no version of this indefensible discourse that doesn’t exacerbate that grief. There’s legions of learned behaviors that need to be named and neutured [sic] so we don’t continue to give life to them. May we know & DO BETTER.”
How I FEEL daily is a perpetual state of GRIEF. There’s sadly no version of this indefensible discourse that doesn’t exacerbate that grief. There’s legions of learned behaviors that need to be named and neutured so we don’t continue to give life to them. May we know & DO BETTER. https://t.co/NmhIOVDWK4
— Aisha Hinds (@AishaHinds) June 1, 2020
Rockmond Dunbar, who plays Michael Grant on the Fox drama, retweeted Hinds’ post and quote-retweeted Stark’s, adding, “As a black man this should go without saying but just to make sure people in the back understand when I say this with my whole chest: I don’t condone the s**t. I don’t like the s**t. And I’ve never been one to allow the word to be used around me by any non-black person.”
As a black man this should go without saying but just to make sure people in the back understand when I say this with my whole chest: I don’t condone the shit. I don’t like the shit. And I’ve never been one to allow the word to be used around me by any non-black person….cont. https://t.co/XCG3a2xsCK
— Rockmond Dunbar (@RockmondDunbar) June 1, 2020
And any alleged ‘black people’ that are co-signing their non-black friends to refer to them in that way need their entire asses checked. Too much history, too much pain. Past and present. Shit is utterly unacceptable.
— Rockmond Dunbar (@RockmondDunbar) June 1, 2020
This week, the official Twitter account for 9-1-1 also posted a message of support with #BlackLivesMatter in the midst of the ongoing protests over George Floyd’s death, “We stand in support of Black Lives. Now is not the time to be silent.”
#BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/u0G0Nm0Wvt
— 9-1-1 on FOX (@911onFOX) June 2, 2020
