Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) apologized for comments he made about female actresses during his undergraduate years at Columbia University.

In a 1991 review of Broadway musical “The Will Rogers Follies” for the school’s newspaper, the Columbia Daily Spectator, the Senate candidate characterized the play as “one of the most glaring examples of the sickening excesses and moral degradations of our culture.”

Of particular concern, O’Rourke wrote, were the “perma-smile actresses whose only qualifications seem to be their phenomenally large breasts and tight buttocks.”

O’Rourke quickly apologized for the column Monday after a Politico piece drew attention to it (the news outlet notes that the comments were flagged by someone who opposes O’Rourke’s Senate campaign).

“I am ashamed of what I wrote and I apologize,” he said. “There is no excuse for making disrespectful and demeaning comments about women.”

O’Rourke appears to be giving Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) some competition, garnering widespread support in a race that had been expected to be a shoo-in for Cruz. He came in ahead of Cruz by two percentage points in a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll.