Talk show host Geraldo Rivera has expressed his apologies after he came under fire last week due to his insensitive comments about the slain teenager, Trayvon Martin. Rivera was heavily criticized by several media outlets, celebrities, and even his own son. Now, he has issued a “sincere and heartfelt apology” for everything he said about Martin.

As previous reports have stated, 68-year-old Geraldo Rivera tweeted that the unarmed Trayvon Martin’s hoodie was as much to blame for his sudden demise as the neighborhood watchman who shot him dead. Right after that, he was put under hot water and has now pulled back the reins on his comments. However, despite his apology, Geraldo Rivera is standing by his message, and saying that while others took his comments about Trayvon Martin as blatant flame-fanning, he saw it more as a public service announcement.

“I apologize to anyone offended by what one prominent black conservative called my ‘very practical and potentially life-saving campaign urging black and Hispanic parents not to let their children go around wearing hoodies,’” Rivera wrote in an email to POLITICO. He added that “by putting responsibility on what kids wear instead of how people react to them I have obscured the main point that someone shot and killed an unarmed teenager [Trayvon Martin].”

Geraldo Rivera also verbally apologized to his family about the Trayvon Martin comments during his radio show on Wednesday morning.

“My own family and friends believe that I have obscured or diverted attention from the principal fact, which is that an unarmed 17-year-old was shot dead by a man who was never seriously investigated by local police. And if that is true, I apologize.”

Geraldo Rivera also added, “I remain absolutely convinced of what I said about asking for trouble. There’s trouble enough for minority boys and young men not to provoke mad responses from paranoid jerk-offs.”