Terry Rossio – man behind Shrek, Aladdin, and Pirates of The Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl – has apologised for equating the use of “anti-vax” to the n-word on Twitter, this past weekend.

The original tweet – now deleted – had been in response to The 100 writer Julie Benson who had retweeted an image encouraging people to donate vaccines to kids in need.

Part of the image read: “And I’m not saying you should buy it and then send a card to an anti-vax relative saying you’ve provided lifesaving vaccinations in their name, but actually that’s exactly what I’m saying.”

Rossio directly responded to the tweet by writing that he feels sorry for parents of “vaccine damaged children”. He then compared being called “anti-vax” to the racist slur.

From the very moment Rossio sent out those words, Twitter tore him to pieces.

The n-word is so profoundly offensive that a euphemism has developed for those occasions when the word itself must be discussed. The same cannot be said for the term "anti-vax." https://t.co/RF7rdpMx8P — Dictionary.com (@Dictionarycom) November 24, 2018

However, in the hours following his original tweet Rossio was still standing by his thoughts.

“Do you realise that you are using the equivalent of the ‘n-word’ in promoting memes that tag people as ‘anti-vax’?” he tweeted at Benson. “Do you realise that the same collectivist stereotyping lies behind belittling any groups with a label? Do you have no feelings for vaccine damaged kids and parents?”

Yikes.

Today, Rossio apologised.

“I am sorry,” he wrote. “I now understand that the word has no place in any conversation, ever.

“You can’t make a point against hate speech and reference actual words of hate speech. That was insensitive and ignorant.

“I am immediately deleting the post to remove that toxic word from the internet, where it should never appear in any context.”

He continued: “As the mistake was mine alone, this apology is also mine alone. A deeply felt apology to all.”

You can read his full apology below.

(3 parts)

In a recent Twitter post, arguing against stereotyping and hate

speech, I referenced the 'n-word' (the actual word) as an example of what

not to do. That was a mistake. I am sorry. I now understand that the word has no place in any conversation, ever. — Terry Rossio (@TerryRossio) November 25, 2018

As the mistake was mine alone, this apology is also mine alone. A deeply

felt apology to all. I continue to stand against hate speech and dehuhmanizing lables in

any form. — Terry Rossio (@TerryRossio) November 25, 2018