The '22 Jump Street' actor expresses his remorse and says that he should have said 'f**k you' instead of the 'hurtful' term.
- Jun 3, 2014
AceShowbiz - Jonah Hill regrets his use of homophobic slur. After making headlines for telling a paparazzo, who was hounding him, to "Suck my d**k, you f****t," the "22 Jump Street" actor apologizes for his "disgusting" choice of word. "I should have either said nothing or just 'f**k you.' Instead, I used a word that I don't use in my personal life," he said during an interview with Howard Stern.
According to the Oscar-nominated actor, the shutterbug provoked him but he said he should have known better than to use such a hurtful term like that. "This person, you saw a 40-second video. This person had been following me around - just to give it some context, not excusing what I said in any way - this person had been following me around all day, had been saying hurtful things about my family, really hurtful things about me personally, and I played into exactly what he wanted and lost my cool," he said.
"In that moment I said a disgusting word that does not at all reflect how I feel about any group of people. I grew up with gay family members. I'm leaving here to go spend the day with one of my closest co-workers and best friend who is gay, who's getting married, who I'm going to stand at his wedding. You know? I'm not at all defending my choice of words but I am happy to be the poster boy for thinking about what you say and how those words, even if you don't intend them and how they mean, they are rooted in hate, and that's bulls**t."
"This is a heartbreaking situation for me. I'm upset because from the day I was born, and publicly, I've been a gay rights activist," he said. "I shouldn't have said that. ... I think I'm pretty good at being in movies [but] I am not good at being a famous person. I'm just not! I think there are some people who are meant for it. If you call me ugly, if you call family members of mine drug addicts and maniacs, I am eventually going to lose my cool."
"Now what I said in that moment was disgusting and a hurtful term," Hill went on. "It's not part of my vernacular. I'm happy to take the heat for using this disgusting word. What I won't allow is for anyone - it would break my heart for anyone to think, especially with all the work that I've done and all the loved ones that I have - that I would be against anyone for their sexuality."
