Veteran actor Peter Fonda has issued an apology to the Trump family for a tweet he sent earlier this week in which he suggesting Barron Trump, President Donald Trump's youngest son, should be ripped away from his mother and "put in a cage with pedophiles.
On Tuesday, Fonda targeted the youngest Trump in response to the president's "zero tolerance" policy, which rips migrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexican border.
Many of the children are being held in cages and experts have described the conditions under which the children are being held as child abuse.
"We should rip Barron Trump from his mother's arms and put him in a cage with pedophiles and see if mother will stand up against the massive giant asshole she is married to," Fonda wrote. The tweet was subsequently deleted, but not before being screengrabbed.
Screenshot of deleted tweet from @iamfonda/Twitter
On Wednesday, Fonda apologized for the tweet, which prompted First Lady Melania Trump to contact the Secret Service. A spokesperson for the First Lady described the tweet as "sick and irresponsible."
"I tweeted something highly inappropriate and vulgar about the president and his family in response to the devastating images I was seeing on television," Fonda said in a statement to USA Today. He added that the has been "distraught over the situation with children separated from their families."
"Like many Americans, I am very impassioned and distraught over the situation with children separated from their families at the border, but I went way too far. It was wrong and I should not have done it. I immediately regretted it and sincerely apologize to the family for what I said and any hurt my words have caused."
Fonda came under additional fire for another [deleted] tweet, also sent on Tuesday, in which he called Homeland Security Secretary Kirtsjen Nielson a "lying gash."
Reactions to Fonda's apology were mixed on social media.
Some people want an apology for the "vulgar actions" perpetrated by the White House, which includes ripping families apart as they attempt to enter the United States in search of a better life.
Some suggested that Fonda shouldn't apologize at all, because "they never do."
Others, however, condemned Fonda's remarks as abhorrent and unacceptable.