Dumped Married At First Sight groom Simon Blackburn has broken his silence after a string of hateful social media videos resurfaced last week.
The Melbourne-based FIFO worker, who is currently recovering from Covid, addressed claims he is a racist, fatphobic, homophobic misogynist during a livestream on TikTok on Monday night.
'I have been receiving a lot of hate mail telling me what type of person I am,' he said, refuting the allegations.
'I lost the plot': Dumped Married At First Sight groom Simon Blackburn has broken his silence after a string of hateful social media videos resurfaced last week
Simon claimed he was a 'changed man' and that the videos circulating online were at least six months old.
He also offered a bizarre excuse for his offensive comments, saying he was simply playing a character as a marketing ploy for his online business GorillaBets.
'Back in the day when I was on TikTok it was all about chasing chookies with the lads whether you were single or you were on the punt and making money,' he said.
Simon explained he would make controversial remarks on TikTok and Instagram Live 'to get views' in an attempt to lure customers to his punting website.
His truth: The Melbourne-based FIFO worker, who is recovering from Covid, addressed claims he is racist, fatphobic, homophobic misogynist during a livestream on TikTok on Monday night
'What a lot of people didn't understand was I am a businessman. My product was GorillaBets. I would say anything that I had to say to get views to bring people [to the website] so we can grow GorillaBets to what it is now, and we have 7, 700 members.'
'This marketing idea that I had, no one has ever had it before, and it has caused a lot of controversy,' he added.
Simon confessed he made sexist and homophobic comments during his livestreams without knowing he was being being screen recorded.
Marketing gimmick? He offered a bizarre excuse for his offensive comments, saying he was simply playing a character as a marketing ploy for his online business GorillaBets
'I have said some interesting comments regarding women, calling them safety hazards, this and that, which is something I regret,' he said.
'I'm not racist. I don't like underage women. I'm not misogynistic or whatever you want to call it.'
Blackburn then apologised for a video in which he described gay people as 'disgusting and filthy', telling his followers he'd 'lost the plot' after having ten beers.
'I lost the plot': Blackburn apologised for a video in which he described gay people as 'disgusting and filthy', telling his followers he'd 'lost the plot' after having ten beers
He explained: 'Every man and his dog was saying, "Simo, you're not a man until you've been with a man. Simo, would you ever be with a man?" This went on for about a
