"Last week, when I first saw a comment from someone outraged about the lyric, I realized right away that what I said was wrong," Cole wrote. "I was instantly embarrassed that I would be ignorant enough to say something so hurtful. What makes the crime worse is that I should have known better."

The offending lyric ("I'm artistic, you n—-s is autistic, retarded") generated a petition from the Anti-Bullying League asking for an apology and for the line to be removed from the song.

"It's time we recognised (sic) people with autism for the exceptional human beings that they are and make a stand," wrote Anna Kennedy, the petition's author.

The petition had reached over 4,100 signatures by the time J. Cole wrote his apology, which was acknowledged by Kennedy after closing the appeal for signatures, adding, "now to remove or dub lyrics please." No word yet if J. Cole will do either of those things.