As long as I’ve known it, "sorry" used to be the hardest thing to say to someone. It used to be such a strong word that people would rather avoid crazy situations than be in a position to offer an apology. I mean, when I was little, sometimes I’d get a little out of character and do something wrong, probably be rude to an older person. My mom would make me walk up to that person the next minute and apologize. It was the hardest thing to do ever.
But hello to today’s world, where all it takes is a working camera, good lighting, and letting a few tears drop. Apologizing now has been made so easy, thanks to our dear influencers and content creators. You do or say some stupid stuff about someone, just put on that camera, add a little drama, and then everyone is okay.
Last month, there were a lot of scandals happening between some Nigerian TikTokers. One that struck me was a particular female TikToker who got into it with her fellow TikToker. First off, she said some dumb stuff about another male TikToker. Apparently, she was trying to trash talk him to someone and instead, she sent the text in his DM. The male TikToker reacted to seeing a trash talk about himself in his own DM, and things went south. I think it was a few days later that the male TikToker came online and said she had apologized and made an apology video, and he had forgiven her. When I saw that, I was like, “Defaming someone, and all it took was an apology video?”
Anyways, I stayed patient till the end of the guy’s video, and I learned that the female counterpart actually called him first and apologized before making the video. Now that’s fair.
I’m telling you, it wasn’t long before I started hearing another rumor that the same female TikToker, who had just gotten out of a scandal, said something demeaning in one of her videos about another celebrity she used to be friends with, and in reaction to she unfollowed her after seeing that video.The solution? She put up another long text explaining herself and apologizing. I don’t know how the matter ended, but why though?
Two scandals in a row.
Every day, I question if these people making these apology videos are actually really sorry, or if they smile when they keep getting more likes and comments from the audience. Surely this kind of thing gets people talking and reacting in different ways. But the more the concept of apology videos keeps getting more prevalent, the clearer it becomes that they are mostly faked. Those people crying on camera will never bat an eye when it actually comes to apologize face-to-face. So yeah, I’m not buying it.
Everyone has their own views about the matter. Some are actually moved by those videos, while others, like me, are not. Personally, if you’re my friend or a very close person to me, and you go and say some very bad things about me behind my back, and I get to know of it, I’m not expecting you to carry your phone and make a video of how sorry you are. Call me, and let’s talk about it. If you can make it face-to-face, even much better. If you did spread the rumor online and you still want to make the apology video, that would be secondary. But definitely not the first thing you should think of after messing up my good reputation. Because now, you’ll have people talking about me in ways I wouldn’t like to be talked about, and for that, I’ll be needing more than a 30-second clip and onion-induced tears.
