Exclusive – Louisa addresses past homophobic tweets: ‘There’s no excuse for it’
The 'Yes' singer is set to perform at Mighty Hoopla in London's Brockwell Park this Sunday (June 3).
By Will Stroude
With a give-no-f**ks attitude and unrelenting bangers like ‘Best Behaviour’ and ‘Yes’, Louisa quickly proved to be one of the most exciting things to come out of The X Factor over the last few years.
After developing a large LGBT following and performing at Pride events across the country however, the 20-year-old singer found herself in hot water earlier this year when a series of past homophobic tweets were uncovered.
The now-deleted social media posts, which dated back to 2013 when Louisa was 14-15 years old, saw the pop star repeatedly use anti-gay slurs like ‘f*ggot’ and ‘lez’.
Louisa was quick to issue an apology at the time, insisting she was now a “completely different person” and a “huge supporter” of the gay community.
Now, in an exclusive interview with Attitude ahead of her scheduled performance at queer-friendly festival Mighty Hoopla in London’s Brockwell Park this Sunday (June 3), Louisa has attempted to lay the controversy to rest once and for all.
“I think the hardest part for me about the whole situation was that there’s no excuse for using them kind of words,” she tells Sink the Pink’s Glyn Fussell.
“I never want to sit here and make up excuses or be like ‘I didn’t know what I was saying’, because I knew the words were wrong.”
The Essex-born star continues: “You just shouldn’t be using that language, but it’s what you’re brought up around and you’re surrounding by.
“If I was to go back and tell myself now I’d never have said that, because I didn’t realise how other people perceived it – obviously [it’s] how I perceive it now.”
She adds: “It was really, really hard for me, because it’s not okay. There’s no excuse for it. You can’t defend yourself.”
To celebrate Mighty Hoopla in London’s Brockwell Park this Sunday (June 3), we’re giving away two VIP tickets plus a meet and greet with Louisa – to enter, all you need to do is retweet our tweet here.