The photographer who altered the hair of the Oscar-winning actor Lupita Nyong’o on the cover of Grazia magazine has apologised for an “incredibly monumental mistake”.

An Le said he recognised that the smoothing and erasing of parts of Nyong’o’s hair was an “unbelievably damaging and hurtful act”.

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Nyong’o, who starred in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and 12 Years A Slave, last week accused Grazia of altering her hair to “fit a more Eurocentric notion of what beautiful hair looks like”. She posted images on social media of the cover of the magazine and the original photo.

Grazia apologised “unreservedly” to Nyong’o, but said it did not alter the photo itself.

Le has now confirmed in a statement that he edited the image and that the change “was not born out of any hate, but instead out of my own ignorance and insensitivity to the constant slighting of women of colour throughout the different media platforms”.

“I’ve had some time to reflect on my part in the incident involving Grazia and Ms Nyong’o,” he added. “I realise now what an incredibly monumental mistake I have made and I would like to take this time to apologise to Ms Nyong’o and everyone else that I did offend.

“Though it was not my intention to hurt anyone, I can see now that altering the image of her hair was an unbelievably damaging and hurtful act. As an immigrant myself, it is my duty to be an advocate for the representation of diversity of beauty in this industry. I will demonstrate this in my work even more going forward.”

Le continued: “There is no excuse for my actions. I deeply regret the pain I’ve caused Ms Nyong’o, a woman I’ve admired for quite some time now. Again, I would like to say I’m deeply sorry to everyone I did offend. I want to thank Lupita for addressing this important issue.”

In a post on Instagram last week, Nyong’o explained her disappointment over the alterations. “As I have made clear so often in the past with every fiber of my being, I embrace my natural heritage and despite having grown up thinking light skin and straight, silky hair were the standards of beauty, I now know that my dark skin and kinky, coily hair are beautiful too,” she said.

Lupita Nyong'o (@Lupita_Nyongo) Disappointed that @GraziaUK edited out & smoothed my hair to fit a more Eurocentric notion of what beautiful hair looks like. #dtmh pic.twitter.com/10UUScS7Xo

“Being featured on the cover of a magazine fulfils me as it is an opportunity to show other dark, kinky-haired people, and particularly our children, that they are beautiful just the way they are. I am disappointed that Grazia UK invited me to be on their cover and then edited out and smoothed my hair to fit their notion of what beautiful hair looks like.

“Had I been consulted, I would have explained that I cannot support or condone the omission of what is my native heritage with the intention that they appreciate that there is still a very long way to go to combat the unconscious prejudice against black women’s complexion, hairstyle and texture.”

In response, Grazia apologised for “not upholding the highest of editorial standards in ensuring that we were aware of all alterations that had been made”. However, the magazine said that “at no point did they make any editorial request to the photographer for Lupita Nyong’o’s hair to be altered on this week’s cover, nor did we alter it ourselves”.