Shane Dawson, a YouTube personality with 21 million followers who came out as bisexual in an emotional video in 2015, defended himself on Twitter Sunday night after a podcast clip surfaced in which he described having a sexual interaction with his cat. Dawson said that it was his first sexual experience.

I found the audio!! Shane Dawson came on his cat! WTF!!!!! This was on his podcast pic.twitter.com/6slFQRxIeE
— Sandwich Ruler (@magician_dragon) March 17, 2019

Dawson said the story “was based on a dumb sketch idea,” adding, “my goal with the podcast and with my videos years ago was to tell shocking stories that would make people laugh and scream ‘OMG NO U DIDNT!!’ and think i was ‘soooo crazy.'”

Added Dawson: “im sorry for what i said about my cat, im sorry for what i said about anything or anyone that was offensive, and im sorry for being someone who thought being super offensive and shocking all the time was funny.”

https://twitter.com/shanedawson/status/1107464566332489728

ive apologized many times for all the dumb shit ive said in videos and podcasts over the years. ive learned my lesson over and over again and im more confident now in my ability to be entertaining by just being myself and not being so shocking for laughs.(2/?)
— Shane Dawson (@shanedawson) March 18, 2019

that story was fake and was based on a dumb awful sketch idea I had years ago that i never made (THANK GOD) and when the opportunity came up for a funny moment in the podcast I told it as if it was a real story which was DISGUSTING and VERY VERY DUMB (3/?)
— Shane Dawson (@shanedawson) March 18, 2019

my goal with the podcast and with my videos years ago was to tell shocking stories that would make people laugh and scream "OMG NO U DIDNT!!" and think i was "soooo crazy". its embarrassing and i fucking hate myself for it. (4/?)
— Shane Dawson (@shanedawson) March 18, 2019

now that im making stuff i love and im being myself it feels so much better and i finally feel like im putting stuff out into the world that means something. im not saying i hate everything ive made over the years (5/?)
— Shane Dawson (@shanedawson) March 18, 2019

theres so many things im so proud of. but all of my offensive jokes, over the top stories, and insensitive jokes are something that still haunt me and something I have to be faced with everyday on the internet. and it never gets easier. (6/?)
— Shane Dawson (@shanedawson) March 18, 2019

so im sorry for what i said about my cat, im sorry for what i said about anything or anyone that was offensive, and im sorry for being someone who thought being super offensive and shocking all the time was funny. im sorry for my past. but im really to make it right and (7/?)
— Shane Dawson (@shanedawson) March 18, 2019

i feel like without my past i wouldnt be who I am today and i wouldnt be able to grow & spend my energy on things that actually mean something. this has been the best 2 years of my life & its because ive been able to drop the act & be myself. and im sorry for not doing it sooner
— Shane Dawson (@shanedawson) March 18, 2019

Dawson also retweeted a video from last year when he was accused of being a pedophile based on remarks from another podcast.

for those who missed this a year ago. here ya go. k going back to editing now 😬🤯👨🏻‍💻👨🏻‍💻 https://t.co/o6FPwbINYh
— Shane Dawson (@shanedawson) March 17, 2019