Star of Teen Mystery Drama 'Outer Banks' Deletes, Apologizes for Racist, Homophobic Tweets

Actor Chase Stokes, 27, stars as John B. on the Netflix mystery drama "Outer Banks," in which his character leads a band of teens in a quest to resist the predations of the wealthy and find a hidden treasure.

But in real life, Stokes is embroiled in quite a different mystery: What happened with his social media accounts, where a trove of racist and homophobic tweets was unearthed, then apologized for, and finally deleted - together with the original apology - while Banks seemingly put forward a whole new storyline explaining the offensive posts?

The head-scratcher started when someone dug up and then re-posted the old posts from Stokes' Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, Entertainment Tonight reports. Among the slurs, media reports said, were instances of the N-word, as well as an anti-LGBTQ expletive hurled at Justin Bieber.

Stokes, or someone purporting to be him, posted an apology on Twitter that seemed aimed at taking full responsibility, reading:

"Yes. I will address this. I was not hiding."

The apology went on to say, "I have posted insensitive tweets," before going on to explain, "My Facebook has been hacked countless times," E! News reports.

That apology continued, "Again, I am incredibly sorry. I really am. I hope you guys see what I am currently doing and how I am continuing to do the right thing by being respectful in today's climate," and then went into full mea culpa mode with: "This does not excuse my words, nor am I excusing myself."

But the mystery only deepened when that seemingly heartfelt and eloquent apology subsequently vanished - along with the offensive social media posts - and a new message took its place:

"Yo just getting back into twitter. My password was changed, figuring things out. I'm really sorry that this is all happening at once."

Yo just getting back into twitter. My password was changed, figuring things out. I'm really sorry that this is all happening at once.– Chase Stokes (@hichasestokes) May 19, 2020

A follow-up tweet added:

"Somebody obviously got access to my account. So I'm trying to solve this."

Somebody obviously got access to my account. So I'm trying to solve this.– Chase Stokes (@hichasestokes) May 19, 2020

So, what's happening, exactly? No one seems to know for sure. The recent messages that supposedly come from Stokes could be interpreted as either the young actor having posted racist and homophobic messages in the past that he's now seeking to apologize for and move past; or, they could indicate that unknown parties took control of Stokes' social media accounts without his knowledge, and none of the offensive messaging was his; or, it could be the case that some middle path - perhaps a mixture of Stokes-authored posts that hackers then added to - leads to the truth.

Entertainment Tonight noted that Season One of "Outer Banks" ended on a cliffhanger. Maybe life is imitating art.