Jonah Hill Apologizes for Using Homophobic Slur

Two-time Oscar nominee Jonah Hill is owning up to his mistake after using a homophobic slur against a Los Angeles photographer this past weekend.

While on the air with Howard Stern early Tuesday morning, the 30-year-old actor apologized profusely: "I'm upset because from the day I was born, and publicly, I've been a gay-rights activist. Now, this person, you saw a 40-second video. This person had been following me around – just to give it some context, not excusing what I said in any way – this person had been following me around all day, had been saying hurtful things about my family, really hurtful things about me personally, and I played into exactly what he wanted and lost my cool."

The 40-second video in question was posted by TMZ, and featured Hill cursing out the paparazzo after the photographer shouted a stream of hateful comments to bait him into responding.

"In that moment," said Hill, "I said a disgusting word that does not at all reflect how I feel about any group of people. I grew up with gay family members. I'm leaving here to go spend the day with one of my closest co-workers and best friend who is gay, who's getting married, who I'm going to stand at his wedding. You know? I'm not at all defending my choice of words but I am happy to be the poster boy for thinking about what you say and how those words, even if you don't intend them and how they mean, they are rooted in hate, and that's bulls---. I shouldn't have said that."

Hill has long been a champion of gay rights, notably speaking out against Russia's anti-gay laws. Hell, his character even rants about how ignorant and outdated homophobic language is in his upcoming movie, 22 Jump Street. But even the most well-intentioned person can be prone to titanic slip-ups. It was a disgusting mistake, but I think that's all it was: a mistake. I generally like Hill and think he deserves a second chance. I suppose time will tell as to whether or not he gets one from the public.

Via: PEOPLE

Credit: Comedy Central