Steve Martin has apologized for a tweet that some have deemed racist, calling the situation unfortunate and explaining the context of his joke.

On Friday, Dec. 20, the actor invited people to ask him grammar questions on Twitter. When one person asked him "Is this how you spell lasonia?" he replied "It depends. Are you in an African-American neighborhood or an Italian restaurant?"

After the comment upset many people, the comedian deleted the tweet and offered up an explanation for his joke.

"I knew of the name Lasonia. I did not make it up, nor did I find it funny. So to me the answer was either Lasonia (with a capital L), or Lasagna, depending on what you meant," the actor explained Monday on his website. "That they sounded alike in this rare and particular contest struck me as funny. That was the joke."

"When the tweet went out, I saw some negative comments and immediately deleted the tweet and apologized. I gathered the perception was that I was making fun of African American names," he added.

Martin has also apologized to those he may have offended, despite the joke not being intentionally insulting.

"To those who are offended, again, I offer a deep, sincere and humble apology without reservation ," he wrote.

The story picked up steam initially after the quote was inaccurately re-printed by several news media outlets, who printed the joke as "It depends. Are you in an African-American restaurant or at an Italian restaurant."

The actor wrote on his Twitter account Dec. 22 saying that the publications had apologized to him as well.

"A nice apology is on Twitchy about the misquote on Salon and TMZ. If we misinterpreted his joke (and we think we probably did), we apologize," he said.

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