‘9-1-1’s Ryan Guzman Takes ‘Full Responsibility’ for ‘Ignorance’ Defending Racial Slurs
Be on the Front Line
For exclusive news and updates, subscribe to our 9-1-1 Newsletter:
Following comments he recently made defending his and fiancée Chrysti Ane’s use of racial slurs, 9-1-1‘s Ryan Guzman, who plays Eddie Diaz, has posted a new apology to social media.
“I know my thoughtless words and actions have hurt people and I apologize. I am truly sorry, hold myself accountable and take full responsibility for my defensiveness and ignorance,” he wrote Wednesday. “I support the Black Community with my whole heart and I am educating myself and listening with an open heart and mind. I promise to use this experience to learn and grow and make real change.”
— Ryan Guzman (@ryanAguzman) June 3, 2020
On Sunday, Guzman first addressed Ane’s use of the N-word in resurfaced 2011 tweets. “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 in an Instagram Live video. “We call each other slurs all the time. We don’t get butthurt at all because we know the actual person.”
Guzman’s costars Aisha Hinds (Henrietta “Hen” Wilson), Rockmond Dunbar (Michael Grant), and Oliver Stark (Evan “Buck” Buckley) slammed his comments on Sunday and Monday. “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,” Hinds wrote on Twitter. “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
“There is absolutely no excuse for the use of the n word,” Stark wrote. “It belongs to the Black community only and I absolutely don’t agree with it being used by anyone else under any circumstances.”
“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,” Dunbar added when retweeting Stark’s comments. “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
Guzman then posted a video to Instagram Monday saying he “misspoke” and “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 ended it with an apology “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.”
These comments come as people are sharing messages of support for the Black Lives Matter movement and during protests over George Floyd’s death. The official Twitter account for the Fox drama did so Monday night.
Watchlist Easy access to only the shows you care about — all in one simple place
Alerts Only important notifications — when a show is returning, when it becomes available to stream, and more.
Special Offers Exclusive products we release related to your favorite shows and streaming services