Blake Shelton Sorry for Homophobic Tweet

Country music star and Voice judge Blake Shelton apologized for a tweet he sent Wednesday in which he advocated homophobic violence while parodying a Shania Twain song.

La Figareports on Shelton, who said he was "Re-writing my fav Shania Twain song" when he tweeted, "Any man that tries Touching my behind He's gonna be a beaten, bleedin', heaving kind of guy ... "

After news reports and backlash from fans, Shelton stressed that he is not antigay, and that he apologized "for the misunderstanding with the whole re-write on the Shania song last night." He added, "It honestly wasn't even meant that way ... I now know that their [sic] are people out there waiting to jump at everything I say on here or everywhere. ... 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."

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Thursday morning called on the singer to apologize, and GLAAD officials said they had contacted producers at The Voice, known for being a gay-friendly show. After GLAAD contacted NBC and the show's producers, Shelton offered his apologetic tweet.

Over the weekend, Shelton, a popular judge on the NBC singing program, cracked an antigay joke when he hosted the Academy of Country Music Awards with Reba McEntire. He suggested that Jake Gyllenhaal had left Taylor Swift because the actor "was in Brokeback Mountain," which prompted laughter from the audience in Las Vegas.

The homophobic tweet prompted an outcry, leading Shelton to initially call his critics "dumb asses" on Twitter, where he also suggested their concerns represent "antigay hate tweets."