Jonah Hill has apologised for using a ''grotesque'' homophobic slur.

The '22 Jump Street' actor was caught on camera lashing out at a photographer over the weekend in footage published on website TMZ yesterday (03.06.14).

Jonah ignored photographers as he walked through Los Angeles and initially didn't respond when one paparazzo said: '''I like the shorts though, bro. They are pretty sexy.''

Shortly afterwards, he could be heard saying: ''Suck my d**k, you f****t.''

Talking on 'The Tonight Show' he recalled the incident, saying: ''Unfortunately this isn't a joke. This weekend I was out with my friends and there was a paparazzi guy and he was antagonising me, calling me names, attacking me personally, my family personally.

''I was genuinely hurt by this and made angry by this.

''And in response I wanted to hurt him back and I said the most hurtful word that I could think of at that moment. I didn't mean this in the sense of the word, I didn't mean it in a homophobic way.

''I think that doesn't matter, words have weight and meaning. The word I chose was grotesque, no one deserves to say or hear words like that.

''I have been a supporter the LBGT community my entire life. I completely let members of that community and everybody else down when I used a word like that this weekend.

''My heart is broken and I genuinely am deeply sorry for anyone whose ever been affected by that term in their life.''

The 30-year-old funnyman hopes others can learn from his outburst as he hopes it will encourage people not to ''respond with hatred or anger'' in situations.

Jonah added: ''Sorry and I don't deserve or expect your forgiveness. What I ask is that, at home if you're watching this and you're young person especially, if someone says something that hurts you or angers you use me as an example of what not to do. Don't respond with hatred or anger because you're just adding more ugliness to the world.

''Again, I'm so sorry.''