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A Western University professor has issued a public apology after being called out by a student on social media for using the n-word during a lecture last week.

According to the apology by English professor Andrew Wenaus, and published by Western’s Faculty of Arts and Humanities, the incident took place last Wednesday after his class had watched an episode of the popular sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

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“I wanted to demonstrate how the writing of the show is haunted by a history of exploitation, violence, and terror,” Wenaus says in his post.

Wenaus used the n-word after making reference to a portion of the show in which the character played by Will Smith refers to Geoffrey the butler as “home butler,” a term Wenaus said was not only a play on the term “homeboy” but that the character also may have been using it as an insult that “historically instigated class division.”

“In articulating this historical context that was used to refer to one of these two classes of slaves, I used the term ‘House N*****’ to inform the students of the disturbing terminology that was used during slavery,” the post reads.