On April 27, TikTok Sway House star Josh Richards issued an apology after he received major backlash for pulling down his pants during an Instagram Live and accidentally flashing the entire stream’s audience.

During the live video, the 18-year-old seemingly tried to recreate a popular TikTok trend where users drop their phone and sit on it, showing their exposed backside. But Josh ended up showing fans a lot more. Naturally, he received some a lot of criticism for the entire incident, which quickly went viral after fans screenrecorded and posted the entire thing online. Some people were quick to slam the internet star, claiming that most of his fan base is “11-13 years old.”

“I bet my life so many young fans were watching it. So f**king disgusting,” one person tweeted. Another added, “Josh Richards makes me so nauseous. Who leaks their own nudes on a livestream where not one of the members of their f**king 11 year old audience saw it coming?”

Upon seeing the backlash, Josh took to Twitter and in a series of since-deleted tweets, screenshotted and reposted by the Instagram account TikTok Room, he wrote, “Stop, it’s over,” and, “Yo, kinda legendary tho.”

Then, one day later, on April 28, he penned a longer apology for his thousands of fans.

“I want to apologize about what happened yesterday during the live. I have a responsibility because of followers I’ve been blessed with. Last night, I took advantage of that. I’m going to try to think harder before I act,” Josh wrote. “It was never my intention to have leaked what got shown, but I made that mistake and understand the consequences.”

He continued, “I am not going to be constantly bringing this situation up for immature purposes. I am going to think about what I’ve done and learn from it.”

Josh’s apology has the internet torn, with some people voicing their disapproval about the entire controversy.

“You have a young audience, some of us know how to deal [with] what we saw but those young people DON’T. You can’t say you won’t let social media change you ’cause it WILL, you’ll have to filter what [you] post and not be ‘crazy’ all the time,” one follower told him. Another responded, “How tf do [you] pull your pants down on accident?”

Others have accepted his apology and are continuing to support the TikToker.

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