Gay violinist says he’s sorry for posing half naked in a cemetery, calls his actions “disrespectful”

It took a few days, but gay violinist Chris Marchant is finally apologizing for that whole sexy cemetery photo shoot debacle that got way blown out of proportion.

Just to recap: Last weekend, Marchant, who is a member of the popular all-gay string quartet Well-Strung, caused a stir on Instagram when posted a half naked image of himself leaning up against an obelisk in a Provincetown cemetery.

He captioned the photo: “Can’t wait to get back to Ptown for Halloween and to help with the launch weekend of @ptownbrewingco!”. He was referring a partnership with his friend’s brewery, Provincetown Brewing Company.

NBD, right?

Wrong!

Turns out people weren’t so into Marchant’s sexy cemetery photo shoot. But when they expressed their opposition to the photo (“Somebody wasn’t buried there for you take an abs pic,” one person commented), instead of just apologizing, Marchant got defensive.

“My abs aren’t the point,” he quipped. “I lived next to the graveyard last summer and often walked through the paths and graves. I don’t see why standing next to or on a stone that represents someone’s life and death equals disrespect.”

Then he said he’s “willing to take the bet” that Provincetown’s deceased “would be happy” about the photo.

Related: This gay violinist is very offended people are very offended by his sexy cemetery photo shoot

It wasn’t until media outlets reached out to the brewery Marchant was promoting that he finally deleted the post. Then yesterday, he walked back his initial remarks and apologized for the photo.

“A few days ago, in an effort to promote a friend’s new company, I posted a picture that offended some people,” he wrote. “In it, I was leaning, shirtless, against a gravestone in Provincetown.”

He continued: “While it was never my intention to offend, I understand that it was disrespectful to take such a picture against a memorial to the life of someone I never knew.”

“I deleted it, because the point of the post was to help a friend, and I would never want for my personal actions or words to harm the efforts of anyone else. I apologize for any offense I caused.”

Apology accepted.

See Marchant’s full post below.