US television host, Jimmy Kimmel, has issued an apology for using blackface to impersonate people like Snoop Dogg, Oprah Winfrey, basketball player Karl Malone, and comedian George Wallace.

Kimmel conceded that he used the N-word several times while imitating the rapper Snoop Dog for a track in a Christmas album back in 1996. He also admitted to impersonating the African-American comedian, George Wallace.

The 55-year-old, who is due to host the Emmy Awards on the 20th September, made the admission in a January 2013 podcast obtained this weekend by Fox News.

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Per the BBC, Kimmel has now apologized in a statement, saying that he had thought of his performances as "impersonations of celebrities and nothing more". However, upon reflection, he admitted that they were "embarrassing" and described them as "thoughtless moments".

Apologizing to "those who were genuinely hurt or offended by the make-up I wore or the words I spoke," he explained that he had held back on speaking about his sketches because he thought that "would be celebrated as a victory by those who equate apologies with weakness and cheer for leaders who use prejudice to divide us. That delay was a mistake."

In the statement, which was published on Tuesday, he explained that he did an impression of erstwhile NBA player, Malone, on his radio show in the 90's.

"We hired make-up artists to make me look as much like Karl Malone as possible," he said. I never considered that this might be seen as anything other than an imitation of a fellow human being, one that had no more to do with Karl's skin colour than it did his bulging muscles and bald head.

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"I've done dozens of impressions of famous people, including Snoop Dogg, Oprah, Eminem, Dick Vitale, Rosie, and many others. In each case, I thought of them as impersonations of celebrities and nothing more.

"Looking back, many of these sketches are embarrassing, and it is frustrating that these thoughtless moments have become a weapon used by some to diminish my criticisms of social and other injustices."

He stated that he believed he had "evolved and matured" over the past two decades: "Thank you for giving me an opportunity to explain and to those I've disappointed, I am sorry."

This comes after the 52-year-old announced that he was taking "a couple months off" from presenting work this summer, following the emergence of several clips where he can be seen in blackface.

Kimmel made the announcement on June the 18th. "I've been doing this job for almost 18 years," he said. "I've done 3,130 shows. And there's nothing wrong, my family is healthy, I'm healthy, I just need a couple of months off."

Kimmel wore blackface several times during his time on the Comedy Central series, The Man Show, which ran from 1999 to 2004. These included impersonations of NBA player, Karl Malone, and a parody of Oprah Winfrey, called Oprah Jimfrey.

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Donald Trump Jr. has since taken to Twitter to criticize Kimmel, writing: "To be clear, I’m 100% against punishing comedians for jokes, even bad jokes from unfunny hack comedians like Jimmy Kimmel…but according to the left’s own woke rules that @jimmykimmel wants to force others to live by, it’s hard to see how @ABCNetwork allows him to keep his show.''

Jimmy Kimmel offers apology for blackface sketches