Recently, we’ve been bringing you updates on controversial pick-up artist and dating coach Julien Blanc who has attracted anger around the world for purportedly purveying aggressive attitudes towards women. After a video was posted online of him appearing to harass women in Japan by pushing their heads towards his crotch, several campaigns were set up against him by activists in America, Australia, Britain, and Japan. These campaigns have so far been successful in helping to raise awareness of the “pick-up seminars” hosted by Blanc through his company RSD (Real Social Dynamics). Now, Blanc has broken his silence to offer an apology to those he has offended, which campaigners have rejected for its seemingly disingenuous nature.

In the interview for CNN, the 25-year-old Blanc began by initially offering “an apology to anybody I’ve offended in any way”. He went on to say that “My intentions were never bad. I agree it was a horrible attempt at humor and, unfortunately, a lot of it just got put out of context”.

The interviewer, Chris Cuomo, followed up with a question we’d all like an answer to: “If you want this (apology) to be meaningful for you in any way, you’d better own this stuff that you’re doing… you’ve apologized because you got caught or because you feel sorry?” to which Blanc responded: “I feel horrible, I mean, I’m not going to be happy to feel like I’m the most hated man in the world. I’m overwhelmed by the way people are responding.”

When questioned about an infamous tweet sent from Blanc’s twitter account referring to a chart used to help victims of domestic violence identify patterns of abuse as a “checklist,” Blanc had this to said: “This here is not something that I teach, either… this is so far in the opposite direction of what I teach that I stupidly thought mocking it would be funny.”

Jen Li, the campaigner behind the #TakeDownJulienBlanc hashtag and the original petition on change.org, has tweeted a response to the video:

Chris Cuomo also tweeted his opinion of Blanc following the interview, calling him “a successful purveyor of problematic behavior.”

You can watch the interview on CNN.com or via this YouTube clip:

At the end of the interview, Blanc hinted at his plans to continue his lectures, stating: “I’ll definitely be more careful in the future… I’m also re-evaluating everything I’ve put out and everything I’m going to be putting out.”

Here’s an update on the Japanese campaign to deny Julien Blanc a visa. The campaign has exceeded its quota of signatures and, according to the campaign creator Queen Jackal, the petition was submitted to Japanese immigration on November 10. Blanc has also recently become a topic of discussion on Japanese television, as this compilation of various Japanese news programs shows:


スッキリ!! ジュリアン・ブランク特集 Julien Blanc Was Featured... 投稿者 BootsOfSpanishLeather

Elsewhere across the globe, there is now a campaign to keep Julien Blanc out of Canada as well as one to keep him out of Singapore and one seeking to deny him entry to Brazil. He has reportedly backed out of plans to hold seminars in Korea this December. He has also been featured on numerous news websites around the globe including The Independent and Time.com.

Source: CNN.com, Buzzfeed
Images: screenshots via CNN.com