Celebrity

The 37-year-old actor posts a video of himself apologizing in sign language and a lengthy message on Instagram after previously offending hearing-impaired fans.

• May 5, 2017

AceShowbiz - Chris Pratt posted a video of himself apologizing to fans with hearing disabilities in sign language on Instagram on Thursday, May 5. He previously received backlash after asking his followers to "turn up the volume and not just read the subtitles" in a now-deleted video. The "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" star realized his mistake and decided to speak up regarding the situation.

Chris also wrote a lengthy caption to express his feelings. "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," the caption read. "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."

The "Passengers" actor then shared that he also knows people who are hearing-impaired and said that "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." He thanked his fans for pointing it out for him and promised that he would try to be more aware of his surroundings in the future.

Besides apologizing, the husband of Anna Faris emphasized that he didn't "apologize only because his publicist made him." Chris stated that he controlled his social media accounts and he apologized because he was "actually very sorry."

At the end of his message, Chris suggested that Instagram adds an automatic subtitles in its videos in order to help those who depend on it. "So... GET ON IT INSTAGRAM!!! Put closed captioning on your app. #CcinstaNow," he concluded.

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. (maybe because most people are watching those videos at work when they should be working and don't want to get caught. I know that's when I do it. 😬) 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. #CCinstaNow

A post shared by chris pratt (@prattprattpratt) on May 4, 2017 at 5:59am PDT