Jack Maynard quits I’m A Celebrity after racist and homophobic tweets resurface
YouTuber leaves the jungle after three days to ‘defend himself’ after controversy
Vlogger Jack Maynard has withdrawn from I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! after old tweets surfaced in which he used racist and sexist language and a slur against the mentally disabled.
Maynard, 22, who has more than 1.2 million subscribers on his YouTube channel, decided to leave the Australian jungle camp three days into the show to address the controversy.
The offending tweets, published this week by The Sun, show that a teenaged Maynard “casually used the N-word and branded other users ‘retarded’ and ‘f****ts’”.
In one tweet, the then-17-year-old Maynard mocked a person with a facial deformity, while in others he rails against his detractors as “retarded faggots”.
“Before going onto the show, Jack has insisted he was not the kind of guy who likes arguments,” the Daily Mirror notes.
Maynard featured yesterday evening’s show, but when viewers were invited to vote for which celebrities they wanted to participate in today’s Bushtucker Trial challenge, Maynard was not included on the list of contestants.
Presenters Ant and Dec then confirmed that Maynard had withdrawn from the programme “due to circumstances outside camp”.
A spokesman for the vlogger said that it was “only fair” that Maynard should be able to defend himself.
“In the last few days Jack Maynard has been the subject of a succession of media stories which, given his position as a contestant on 'I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here' - filmed in the Australian jungle, with no contact with the outside world, he has been unable to respond to,” the statement said.
“Since it is only fair that everyone should be aware of any allegations made against them and should also have the right to defend themselves, it was agreed that it would be better to bring him out of the show.
“Jack agrees with this decision which was made by his representatives and ITV and thanks everyone who has supported him in the show this far.”
The representative added that Maynard, whose brother is singer Conor Maynard, was “ashamed” of the old tweets, which he now accepted were “completely unacceptable”.
