Viggo Mortensen says the N-Word when promoting his next movie

The actor Viggo Mortensen, best known for his role in Peter Jackson the Lord of the Rings trilogy, apologized Thursday for using the n-word in a panel for his next film, Green paper.

In a statement to BuzzFeed News, Mortensen said, "Although my intention is to speak forcefully against racism, I do not even have the right to imagine the harm caused by hearing this word. all context, especially a white man. "

"I do not use the word privately or in public. I am really sorry to have used the whole word last night and not to repeat it again, "he continued.

Wednesday night, Mortensen was sitting next to his black Green paper costar, actor Mahershala Ali, winner of an Oscar, at the ArcLight Theater in Los Angeles when he uttered the word.

"People are no longer saying" nigger, "Mortensen told Q & A, which immediately alarmed people during the event.

The actor then stated that he was trying to argue "that many people were using the keyword lightly when the film's story unfolds."

In the film, Mortensen plays the role of Tony Lip, an Italian American who works as a bouncer in the disco Copacabana in the sixties.

His character in the film uses preconceived terms to designate blacks, including words in Italian slang such as "aubergine". Later, Mortensen's character becomes a driver of Don Shirley's Ali, a musician with whom he is linked while navigating their interracial friendship in the Great South.

After saying the word, the shocked participants tweeted about the incident. "The oxygen immediately left the room," said one person.

Another said it was "the most bizarre and uncomfortable moment" [they’ve] never attended a Q & A. "

In his statement of apology, Mortensen said that he accepted the challenge of working on Green paper "Exposing ignorance and prejudice in the hope that the story of our film may somehow contribute to changing people's views and feelings about race issues."

"It's a beautiful, deep film story that I'm very proud to be a part of," he said.

Representatives of Universal Pictures, the distributor of the film, did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News' request for comment.