Nothing fake about this — Chris Cuomo is in serious apology mode, after comparing the suddenly popular phrase “fake news” to an infamous racial epithet.

CNN anchor Cuomo took to Twitter on Thursday to issue his mea culpa, writing, “I was wrong. Calling a journalist fake — nothing compared to the pain of a racial slur. I should not have said it. I apologize.”

He went on to write, “I want to thank you for calling me out for equating fake with other slurs. Wasn’t my intention to diminish but just saying it was too much.”

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According to EW.com, Cuomo equated the phrase “fake news” — which has become something of a rallying cry in the President Trump era — to the racial slur while appearing Thursday on Michael Smerconish’s SiriusXM POTUS show.

“I see being called ‘fake news’ as the equivalent of the N-word for journalists, the equivalent of calling an Italian any of the ugly words that people have for that ethnicity,” Cuomo said. “That’s what ‘fake news’ is to a journalist. It is an ugly insult, and you better be right if you’re going to charge a journalist with lying on purpose. And the president was not right here, and he was not been right in the past.”

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Early Thursday, Donald Trump called out Cuomo by name in a post lamenting “fake news,” tweeting, “Chris Cuomo, in his interview with Sen. Blumenthal, never asked him about his long-term lie about his brave “service” in Vietnam. FAKE NEWS!”

Chris Cuomo, in his interview with Sen. Blumenthal, never asked him about his long-term lie about his brave “service” in Vietnam. FAKE NEWS! – Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2017

Read Cuomo’s apology below.

I was wrong. Calling a journalist fake -nothing compared to the pain of a racial slur. I should not have said it. I apologize https://t.co/TJGUgWz9Q2 – Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) February 9, 2017

I want to thank you for calling me out for equating fake with other slurs. Wasn’t my intention to diminish but just saying it was too much. https://t.co/WxDSiQ90i3 – Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) February 9, 2017