Just last week, Jonah Hill was all over the news when he said a homophobic slur to a paparazzi who was following him. The incident was caught on video.
On Tuesday, Hill guested on The Tonight Show to talk about his upcoming film with Channing Tatum, 22 Jump Street. He also took the opportunity to give a sincere apology about what he said to the paparazzi.
“The word I chose was grotesque and no one deserves to say or hear words like that. I’m sorry, and I don’t deserve or expect your forgiveness.”
Here’s what Jonah Hill had to apologize for
He told Jimmy Fallon that the paparazzi was insulting and harassing him, so his natural response was to hurt him back. “I didn’t mean this in the sense of the word, you know? I didn’t mean it in a homophobic way,” he said. Although he defended his actions, he also said that it does not matter. “How you mean things doesn’t matter. Words have weight, and meaning.”
Daniel Post Senning from the Emily Post Institute said that he was impressed by Hill’s sincere apology. “It was moving,” he said. “Doing it in person on TV, where people can see him and relate to him, indicates how serious he was about giving his apology,” Senning said.
Hill’s body language was also studied and Stacy Kaiser, a psychotherapist, concluded that Hill is the real deal. “His mouth was dry. He looked nervous. He kept looking at the ground. He’s a pro on TV, so for him to be that way means he couldn’t hide his emotions,” said Kaiser.
Hill also stated that he has always been a supporter of gay rights and he regretted letting down the gay community with his outburst.
In an interview with Daily News, Hill said, “First of all, nobody is beating themselves up harder than me. The only reason I don’t want to keep repeating an apology is that I don’t want to give a watered down version of what I gave on Jimmy Fallon’s show, because that really truly expressed how I feel.”
The apology
Image via YouTube