Grammy winner Sam Smith posted a series of tweets describing how his friend was "verbally abused racially" while out in London on Tuesday. Smith said that he was left speechless and deeply affected after witnessing his friend experience a verbal attack and went on to allege that police officers were "unhelpful."
"Just experienced my friend getting verbally abused racially in London. I am absolutely SPEECHLESS," he wrote. "I never ever ever ever thought that would happen here. Absolutely speechless and hurt."
He continued: "I feel like I have to shine some sort of light on it. The police were so unhelpful in the situation and its deeply shocked me... Humans are HUMANS... I feel like I have to say something. I'm just so upset. So UPSET."
Unfortunately, Smith became a target on social media when users mocked the singer for "discovering racism in 2016." Hip-hop magazine Complex wrote for its headline, "Sam Smith Discovers Racism Still Exists in 2016."
In retaliation, Smith took to Instagram on Wednesday to clarify his comments and address his critics.
"For the record, I was merely sharing an experience I had in the hope it would draw attention to how ridiculous it is to be racist in 2016," he wrote to his 6.5 million fans. "This is not about me in any way. It's about a deep rooted issue we have on our society that should now be extinct."
Smith also commented on his experiences with homophobic bullying, writing, "I don't profess to know or remotely understand what it means to be on the receiving end of racist abuse, but having been bullied my whole life for being gay, what I do know is that it is wrong and completely unacceptable. Here's to people being allowed to be people."
