Ranveer Singh rarely finds himself in the middle of controversies, but last week has been a little tough on him. To bring peace to all the criticism being hurled towards him for the sexist advertisement he was recently a part of, Ranveer released a statement on Friday and apologised to his fans.

Ranveer’s statement reads: “It was important to give the brand creative freedom while designing their campaign, but I guess we got it wrong on one of those billboards and I’m sorry this happened but it’s a thing of the past.. we rectified it immediately by having that hoarding taken down ASAP from everywhere over 30 cities overnight. I treat all women with the utmost respect both professionally and personally and would never do anything to disrespect them.”

The actor’s collaboration with fashion brand Jack and Jones landed him in trouble when a gender insensitive advertisement was put up on huge billboards in various towns of the country. The hoarding showed him, dressed in sharp office wear, leaving his workplace and carrying a female co-worker on his shoulders. The words ‘Don’t hold back’ jumped out of the picture in bold letters. The advert received a lot of flak for its unabashed sexism and was soon pulled out from the brand’s social media paged.