Ahead of his rumoured jungle debut on this year’s I’m a Celebrity, airing from 17 November, Roman Kemp took to social media to issue a heartfelt (if vague) apology about unspecified online activity – that he’s apparently since deleted all evidence of.
‘I wanted to talk about something I’ve seen a lot of celebrities talking about, and people around the world talking about, and that is the use of language online,' Kemp said in an Instagram story. ‘I went through something terrible with a troll online and it encouraged me to look back and take responsibility to see if I had ever posted anything that could cause harm or offence to someone,' he explained, framing his findings as a surprise even to himself. ‘Being totally honest, I'm shocked and appalled and ashamed to say I did find things,' he continued. ‘I did find things I’m not at all proud of. I don’t associate myself with that.’ Kemp distanced himself from the mysterious material, saying, ‘I know the person who wrote those things is not the man I am now, but they were there.'
Some have speculated that the statement might be in relation to the allegations of racism, after Kemp compared Korean group BTS’s music to ‘noise’ – but that’s yet to be confirmed, and it’ll be hard to say for sure because Kemp ‘made the conscious decision to get those things, I have deleted those things’.
I’m sure someone, somewhere, is digging through internet archives as we speak to identify precisely what the apology was referring to – but whatever the offending material emerges to be, we can certainly be sure that Kemp wants us to know that he's really sorry about it. ‘For anyone that has ever been offended by something I have said online, I am truly, deeply and utterly sorry,' he said, before declaring his commitment to do better. ‘Going forward, I want to be that good social media user that spreads happiness about humans, not negativity. I hope that you watching this want to do the same. Together, let’s make the internet a bit of a better place.'
If the 26-year-old radio presenter is indeed bound down-under, he’ll be joining a top-notch cast for this year’s iteration of the celebrity game show. Rumoured contestants include Caitlyn Jenner (just spotted touching down in Australia, along with footballer Ian Wright), Nadine Coyle and Kate Garraway. Bring on those Bush Tucker trials.