David Oyelowo Addresses the Outrage Over His Comments About Black Southern Accents

Oscar-nominated actor David Oyelowo is speaking out following the immense online backlash he received after a recent interview went viral. But according to some fans, what he has to say may still not be enough.

If you haven’t been on the internet lately and missed all the discourse, allow us to bring you up to speed. Things all started after the “Selma” star recently appeared as a guest on the “One54 African Podcast,” and decided to give a response to comedian Druski’s viral skit.

In it, Druski took aim at Black British actors, parodying the specific types of prestige projects they book, such as “12 Years a Slave.” He also mocked the reality that British performers are routinely chosen to play historical Black American icons.

In discussing the viral skit, Oyelowo described the bit as unhelpful and said that the narrative that Black British actors keep taking roles from Black American actors comes from a scarcity mindset. But what really got folks heated is when the “Queen of Katwe” actor talked about the challenge of taking those roles on and noted the difficulty in switching from his Nigerian accent to a stereotypically Black, Southern one.

RELATED: The Truth Behind Druski’s Viral Skit About Black British Actors

Describing it as having hints of “slavery” and “subservience,” Oyelowo said: “If you take the Nigerian accent like this and you slow it down, you put a lot of slavery in there, and then you start to put a little bit of subservience in it, this is what starts to happen to the Nigerian accent.”

Naturally, once his words began making the rounds on social media, many Black folks couldn’t help but express their outrage and disappointment.

“David Oyelowo really disappointed me with this interview. Maybe I just didn’t know enough about him, but I always thought that he had a respect for Black Americans culture. Saying that BA actors were jealous of his success, and esp how he described his southern accent…I’m good,” wrote one user oon X/Twitter.

“So I have a modern slave voice…interesting,” said another on Instagram.

Added another: “What an incredibly idiotic thing to say…He threw Black Americans under the bus for a cheap shot at rapport with them.”

Well, after getting wind of all the negativity, the decorated actor broke his silence with a statement on Instagram.

“I want to apologize unreservedly to all those who were rightly offended by my comments on the One54 Africa podcast regarding Southern Accents. It was the wrong thing to say, and it is not how I feel,” he began in his post, shared on Monday. “I have nothing but deep respect and great love for Black people of all kinds, especially those from the American South. Reducing a dialect born from the richness and resilience of Black Southern culture to anything less was careless and wrong.”

He went on to say that he genuinely wanted to lift up his “Black brothers and sisters from all places through my work and my words,” but acknowledged that he failed to do so in this situation. However, some fans still weren’t convinced that his apology was heartfelt or did enough to rectify the situation.

“David Oyelowo. It’s too late big dawg! You got around ya people and spoke how yall speak about us who are actually from THE CULTURE over here & that was the sanitized version because yall was on camera. Don’t try and roll your game up now. IT’S UP now!” wrote one user on X/Twitter.

“The dialect David Oyelowo disrespected is not spoken by a people who are slow and subservient. It is spoken proudly by a people who have been fighting against injustice for centuries. People who broke down barriers and created the blueprint for freedom worldwide,” said another.

One other user added: “If you’re not a Black southerner, you do not get to dictate what we find disrespectful and offensive.”