Blake Shelton apologizes for old tweets: 'Inappropriate and immature? Yes. Hateful? Never'

Blake Shelton apologizes for old tweets: ‘Inappropriate and immature? Yes. Hateful? Never’

Blake Shelton says his jokes, some seen as offensive, have "been out there for anyone to see."

By Christie D’Zurilla

Aug. 17, 2016 3:20 PM PT

Blake Shelton is apologizing to “anyone who may have been offended” by cracks he’s tweeted over the years about gays, lesbians, women and minorities. If you knew him, he says, you’d know he didn’t mean anything by it.

“Everyone knows comedy has been a major part of my career and it’s always been out there for anyone to see. That said anyone that knows me also knows I have no tolerance for hate of any kind or form,” he said Wednesday on Twitter.

Shelton started on Twitter in May 2008. The tweets deemed offensive, mostly from 2009 through 2012, were revived over the weekend in the form of screen shots.

“Can my humor at times be inappropriate and immature? Yes. Hateful? Never. That said I deeply apologize to anybody who may have been offended.”

Shelton apologized once before for tweets he sent out over the course of a few months in mid-2011 that were seen as anti-gay, as well as for a (presumably scripted) “Brokeback Mountain” joke he delivered while co-hosting the Academy of Country Music Awards that year with Reba McEntire.

While his first reaction then was similar to the current statement — basically, “If you knew me, you’d understand” — he finally got specific after he was slammed for posting a rewrite of Shania Twain lyrics that was seen as advocating violence against gay men.

“Hey y’all allow me to seriously apologize for the misunderstanding with the whole re-write on the Shania song last night,” he said in a series of tweets, via Huffington Post. “It honestly wasn’t even meant that way.... I now know that their are people out there waiting to jump at everything I say on here or anywhere. But when it comes to gay/lesbian rights or just feelings ... I love everybody. So go look for a real villain and leave me out of it!!!”

In other offended-by-tweets news, earlier this week Ellen DeGeneres was accused of being a racist after tweeting a Photoshopped picture that had her riding on Usain Bolt’s back as he smiled toward the cameras while running toward a finish line in Rio. “This is how I’m running errands from now on. #Rio2016,” she wrote.

DeGeneres did not apologize and did not remove the post. Instead, she said Tuesday, “I am highly aware of the racism that exists in our country. It is the furthest thing from who I am.”