US TV host Jimmy Kimmel has apologised for using blackface makeup to impersonate stars including Snoop Dogg and Oprah Winfrey.
Kimmel said he had thought of his behaviour on Comedy Central’s The Man Show, which aired between 1999 and 2004, “as impersonations of celebrities and nothing more”.
The 52-year-old added he wanted to say sorry to those who had been “genuinely hurt or offended”.
Kimmel said he had delayed apologising because he thought that it “would be celebrated as a victory by those who equate apologies with weakness and cheer for leaders who use prejudice to divide us”.
He added: “That delay was a mistake.”
Kimmel hosts a late-night talk show on US channel ABC and presented the Oscars in 2017 and 2018.
The popular television personality also impersonated the black basketball player Karl Malone on The Man Show
