'More than 38 million Americans live with some sort of hearing disability. So I want to apologize...'
It’s hard to think of Chris Pratt doing anything controversial, but the 37-year-old has taken to Instagram to issue a heartfelt apology after feeling as though he had offended people.
Following an earlier Instagram post, the Guardian of the Galaxy star was criticised for not being understanding of those who are deaf or hard of hearing. Chris has since taken to social media to offer a sincere apology from ‘the bottom of his heart’.
He wrote a lengthy caption which explained, in detail, what had occurred, telling fans that ‘the last thing in the world’ he would have wanted to do is offend ‘anybody who suffers from hearing loss or any other disability.’
Alongside a video clip, in which he apologised in sign language, Chris wrote: ‘Instagram does this thing where it mutes all the videos it shows and forces you to turn on the volume in order to hear them…’
) So when I made a video recently with subtitles, and requested that people turn up the volume and not just "read the subtitles" it was so people wouldn't scroll past the video on mute, thus watching and digesting the information in the video. HOWEVER, I realize now doing so was incredibly insensitive to the many folks out there who depend on subtitles. More than 38 million Americans live with some sort of hearing disability. So I want to apologize. I have people in my life who are hearing-impaired, and the last thing in the world I would want to do is offend them or anybody who suffers from hearing loss or any other disability. So truly from the bottom of my heart I apologize. Thanks for pointing this out to me. In the future I'll try to be a little less ignorant about it. Now… I know some of you are going to say, "Hey! Chris only apologized because his publicist made him!" Well. That is not the case. As always I control my social media. Nobody else. And I am doing this because I'm actually really sorry. Apologies are powerful. I don't dole them out Willy-Nilly. This is one of those moments where I screwed up and here's me begging your pardon. I hope you accept my apology. And on that note. Why doesn't Instagram have some kind of technology to automatically add subtitles to its videos? Or at least the option. I did a little exploring and it seems lacking in that area. Shouldn't there be an option for closed captioning or something? I've made them lord knows how much money with my videos and pictures. Essentially sharing myself for free. I know they profit. So… GET ON IT INSTAGRAM!!! Put closed captioning on your app. #CCinstaNowHe continued, ‘So when I made a video recently with subtitles, and requested that people turn up the volume and not just “read the subtitles” it was so people wouldn’t scroll past the video on mute, thus watching and digesting the information in the video. HOWEVER, I realize now doing so was incredibly insensitive to the many folks out there who depend on subtitles.
‘More than 38 million Americans live with some sort of hearing disability. So I want to apologize. I have people in my life who are hearing-impaired, and the last thing in the world I would want to do is offend them or anybody who suffers from hearing loss or any other disability. So truly from the bottom of my heart I apologize. Thanks for pointing this out to me. In the future I’ll try to be a little less ignorant about it.’
Chris also wanted to point out to any cynics that he was being genuine, explaining: ‘As always I control my social media. Nobody else. And I am doing this because I’m actually really sorry. Apologies are powerful.’
What’s more, the star – who boasts 11.3 million followers – pointed out that Instagram could make some changes to improve the experience for hard of hearing users.
He said: ‘And on that note. Why doesn’t Instagram have some kind of technology to automatically add subtitles to its videos? Or at least the option. I did a little exploring and it seems lacking in that area…’
Interesting idea…
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