Snowboarder Shaun White is excused Monday from the Special Olympics community after being dressed up for Halloween under the pseudonym "Simple Jack", a mentally handicapped character from the 2008 movie "Tropic Thunder".

White, a three-time Olympic gold medalist, posted a picture of the costume on Instagram this weekend, triggering a brutal reaction from those associated with the Special Olympics.

Soeren Palumbo, co-founder of the organization's "Spread the Word to End the Word" campaign, told The Huffington Post in part of the statement that "the disability is not a joke nor should it be a punch".

Since then, White has deleted the Instagram message and replaced it with an apology, which he also posted on Twitter.

"I owe all members of the Special Olympics community an apology for my bad choice of Halloween costume the other night," White wrote on social media. "It was a last-minute decision, it was the wrong decision, the Special Olympics were right to call me about it, they do a great job supporting so many great athletes, and I'm sorry to be insensitive, lesson learned. "

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The Special Olympics brand Twitter account thanked White for his apology in response to White's tweet, adding that "you still have an invitation to interact with our athletes at #XGames Aspen!"

"Simple Jack" is a fiction film character in the plot of "Tropic Thunder", described by actor and director Ben Stiller. The character, like White, has red hair and freckles and has been criticized after the release of the film about 10 years ago for his rude portrayal of a person with a developmental disability.

Mr. White also caused widespread anger in February after dismissing charges of sexual harassment against him in a lawsuit as "gossip". He later apologized for what he called "a bad choice of words".

Contact Tom Schad at [email protected] or on Twitter @ Tom_Schad.