Kris Marshall has broken his silence following the recent Twitter backlash over comments he made about his time filming Death in Paradise in the Caribbean.
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The actor, who is also known for his roles in Love Actually and Sanditon, came under fire earlier this month after an interview resurfaced in which he joked that he felt his son was becoming "a bit too Caribbean" after spending three years on the island of Guadeloupe.
Via a spokesperson, he told HELLO!: "In an interview I did last year, I attempted to convey how much my family and I loved our time during the four wonderful years we made our home on Guadeloupe, and how hard it was for us all to return to Britain.
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"However, I expressed part of this in an uneducated and poor manner and in doing so, I unintentionally hurt people I care about and caused offence to others. For this, I am deeply sorry. In my naive use of words, I propagated negative cultural stereotypes, which was offensive and insensitive. I now understand the damage this type of ignorant language, when used by a privileged white man like myself, can have.
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His statement concluded: "I remain genuinely remorseful for the hurt and damage this has caused and am committed to educating and expressing myself more appropriately and respectfully moving forward."
In the interview, which took place on Lorraine in June 2020, the actor opened up about why he called it time on the much-loved BBC show.
Kris Marshall has apologised for the comments he made on Lorraine last year
"The thing is, after doing four great years on Guadeloupe, the island where we filmed Death in Paradise, I realised that I really had to get my son to school," he said in the clip.
"He was becoming a bit too Caribbean, he refused to wear shoes and would only drink coconut water and eat pineapple. He was very good on the beach, but not very good with Maths and English so I decided it was time to get him back into school."
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He then joked that he started questioning his choice to quit on his next acting job. "Six months later, I'm standing on a film set in a car park in Dagenham at four o'clock in the morning thinking 'Have I made the right decision?'"
The 47-year-old starred as DI Humphrey Goodman on the BBC series from 2014 until 2017, replacing DI Richard Poole who was played by Ben Miller. After he left, he was in turn replaced by Ardal O'Hanlon, who played DI Jack Mooney. The show currently stars Ralf Little as the island's resident detective.
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