Blake Shelton apologizes for past offensive tweets

Days after years-old messages resurfaced, Blake Shelton has responded to allegations that he’s been racist, misogynistic and homophobic on Twitter. On Wednesday, the singer apologized and offered a brief explanation.

“Everyone knows comedy has been a major part of my career and it’s always been out there for anyone to see,” he writes. “That said anyone that knows me also knows I have no tolerance of hate of any kind or form.”

“Can my humor at times be inappropriate and immature? Yes. Hateful? Never,” Shelton continues. “That said I deeply apologize to anybody who may have been offended.”

A sampling of the alleged tweets that have caused an uproar includes one from 2012 that reads: “Grown men who wear skinny jeans may as well write on the side of their car ‘I’m only staring at your boobs cause I’m jealous of them!!’”

Several more are from as far back as 2009:

There is no indication that Shelton will slow down or change how he uses Twitter, although a lack of recent tweets being similarly labeled as homophobic or racist may indicate that he’s changed his course slightly over the years. Prior to posting the apology on Facebook and Twitter, Shelton spent the morning responding to fans who wanted retweets, or just wanted to ask him about recent tabloid reports.

Shelton is set to begin the new season of "The Voice" in the fall. The tweets in question have been deleted — in fact, Saving Country Music reports that more than 10,000 of the superstar’s tweets have been recently purged from his page.