Plus-size supermodel Tess Holliday has issued a public apology after telling an interviewer: "Black men love me."
The model's remarks caused a backlash on social media and the 29-year-old has since been forced to apologise.
On her Facebook page, Holliday wrote: "Firstly, I apologise for any hurt that my flippant comment has caused.
"I'll try to provide some context which hopefully will change the way in which it is being viewed, but I have to also accept that being followed and quoted is something new for me and I am going to occasionally say or do things that make people unhappy.
"For that I am sorry, your opinions are important to me."
Holliday's "flippant" remarks were published in an interview with the Guardian.
During a photoshoot for the newspaper, an African American man walked past the model and, according to the interviewer, said something "appreciative". Reportedly, Holliday then said: "What do guys think they’ll achieve by yelling something?"
Before adding: "I do admit that black men love me. I always forget that, and then I come to a black neighbourhood and I remember."
Since the article was published, many have taken to social media to voice their opinions on Holliday's remarks with some branding her "racist".
But there are also those who believe she was right to say what she did.
In her Facebook apology, Holliday says that the context in which her remarks were made wasn't spelled out to readers of the interview.
She wrote: "The incident in question occurred when I was on the street, feeling rather exposed in my underwear for the shoot, and an older black man cat called me as I was walking behind the team.
"I replayed the incident to the team once we were set up for the next shot, and jokingly said some semblance of what appeared in print. It was in relation to being cat called by black men significantly more than by white, but perhaps my tone and wording didn't convey this clearly.
"It was also meant to play into the idea that black men like bigger women, but the humour of that doesn't come through. To further add context, the team included two talented black women - so it was clearly not something intended to cause offence."
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Tess Holliday
The supermodel has recently received a lot of media attention after being signed by major modelling agency, MiLK Model Management. She also fronts the #EffYourBeautyStandards which encourages people everywhere to love their bodies regardless of size.
In her lengthy apology on Facebook, the size 22 model added: "I am not a perfect human being, I am still growing and learning, and the title of 'role model' is not one that I have chosen.
"I am doing my best to live up to what that means, but at times I will slip up. I don't speak for everyone, but I will continue to try my best to speak UP for everyone."