Tuesday night on ‘The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon’, Jonah Hill took a break from promoting ‘22 Jump Street‘ to address his controversial homophobic remarks to a paparazzo.

The 30 year-old actor caused outrage online yesterday, when a video of him telling a TMZ photographer to “suck my dick, you faggot” surfaced online.

Before Hill said a word about his new movie, he dove right into an eloquent and heartfelt apology for losing his temper. He explained the context of his language and how the paparazzo had been verbally attacking and hounding him all day, although accepts that that was no excused for such “grotesque” language.

He said, “In response, I wanted to [the photographer] him back, and I said the most hurtful word that I could think of at that moment,” adding “words have weight and meaning, and the word I chose was grotesque. And no one deserves to say or hear words like that.

“My heart’s broken, and I genuinely am deeply sorry to anyone who’s been affected by that term in their life. I’m sorry, and I don’t deserve or expect your forgiveness,” concluded Hill.

Watch the video below: