Jayme Deerwester

USA TODAY

Debra Messing went on the defensive Wednesday after Twitter chastised her for posting a photo of herself watching coverage of the murder-suicide on the UCLA campus.

The star of Will & Grace and The Mysteries of Laura had taken a selfie in an orange T-shirt bearing the slogan "under the gun," for which Twitter users called her out for being insensitive.

Later in the day, she explained via Twitter that the photo was part of a pre-planned social media campaign (apparently on behalf of Everytown for Gun Safety) and that news of the shooting broke just as she was posting it. The original photo has since been pulled down.

"Today we were asked to have our voices heard. The horrendous Irony is the timing of yet another shooting," she wrote. "This has nothing to do with me."

She added, "I thought the horrendous irony of the timing shown a brighter light in the crisis and need for all of us to do something together to make the U.S. safer. Sorry if it was misconstrued and caused offense. That's the last thing I want to do."