(CNN) -- Talk radio host Dr. Laura Schlessinger has issued an apology for saying the N-word several times during an on-air conversation with a caller this week.

"I talk every day about doing the right thing. And yesterday, I did the wrong thing," Schlessinger said on her radio show Wednesday.

"I was attempting to make a philosophical point, and I articulated the n-word all the way out -- more than one time. And that was wrong. I'll say it again -- that was wrong."

Schlessinger was referring to a call she got on her show Tuesday from an African-American woman who said she was married to a white man and was getting fed up with her husband allowing his family and friends to say things that she felt were racist.

Schlessinger asked the woman to give her some examples and then said that she thought the examples the woman gave were not racist.

The woman then asked about the use of the n-word.

Schlessinger said "black guys use it all the time. Turn on HBO, listen to a black comic, and all you hear is n---, n----, n----."

The talk show host went on to use the word at least three more times during the call.

Schlessinger and the caller began bickering back and forth toward the end of the call, and the caller said she was upset that the talk show host had used the word.

Schlessinger suggested that the caller was hypersensitive.

"If you're that hypersensitive about color and don't have a sense of humor, don't marry out of your race," the talk show host said.

iReporter: "Dr. Laura, thanks for opening the debate"

The Rev. Al Sharpton decried the incident during an interview with "AC 360" on Thursday.

"That is despicable," Sharpton said about Schlessinger's comment about the caller marrying outside of her race.

"She said the word over and over, and in a very animated way, I might add, but that she actually, if you listen carefully to the logic of what she was saying was that the n-word was not offensive."