Custom display does not override Plugin’s settings

Hello,

I’m using

yarpp_related(array(
'template' => 'yarpp-template-ramadan-thumbnail.php', 
'post_type' => array('post'), 
'exclude' => array(21), 
'weight' => array(
'body' => 1,
'title' => 3, // larger weights mean this criteria will be weighted more heavily
'tax' => array(
'post_tag' => 1,
'category' => 3
)
))) ;

to customize the output. I’m trying to exclude category 21 this way, but it’s still present. When I exclude it in the plugin’s Pool it doesn’t show anymore.

Is there a way to exclude categories with YARPP using custom code?