Jonah Hill: 'My Heart's Broken' Over Gay Slur

The first thing Jonah Hill wanted to do when he went on the Tonight Show last night was apologize. Hill got a lot of bad press after hurling a gay slur at a photographer who was attacking him verbally while he was out with friends. Hill and Jimmy Fallon quickly silenced the cheering audience, and Hill warned, "Unfortunately, this isn't a joke." He went on to explain that he was "genuinely hurt" by the paparazzo's actions, and "in response, I wanted to hurt him back, and I said the most hurtful word that I could think of at that moment"—the f-word.

"I didn't mean it in a homophobic way," Hill said, pausing to compose himself. But "that doesn't matter. How you mean things doesn't matter. Words have weight and meaning. And the word I chose was grotesque and no one deserves to say or hear words like that.” He said he's a lifelong supporter of the LGBTQ community, and "my heart's broken and I genuinely am deeply sorry to anybody who's ever been affected by that term in their life." As the audience sat in silence and Fallon thanked him for his sincerity, Hill added, "I know I'm usually funny and stuff, but this wasn't funny. It was stupid. I deserve the s--- that I'm going to get for it, you know?" Hill also apologized yesterday morning on Howard Stern's show, the New York Daily News notes, and called his choice of words "disgusting." (More Jonah Hill stories.)