[Minnie]

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Pop star Madonna has apologised for using a racial slur to refer to her son on an Instagram post.

The singer uploaded a snapshot of 13-year-old Rocco Ritchie boxing on Friday night, with the offensive epithet used in a hashtag accompanying the photo.

"I am sorry if I offended anyone with my use of the 'n-word'," she said in a statement issued on Saturday. "It was not meant as a racial slur. I am not a racist. There's no way to defend the use of the word."

Madonna's comment was swiftly deleted from her Instagram account after some of her 1.1 million followers berated her for using the hashtag "#dis#####"

She later re-posted the same photo on Instagram, with a defiant (and largely unprintable) new caption that began: "Ok, let me start this again."

On Saturday afternoon however, Madonna deleted the post entirely, and instead released a statement through her publicist, saying "forgive me".

"It was all about intention," she continued. "It was used as a term of endearment toward my son who is white. "I appreciate that it's a provocative word and I apologize if it gave people the wrong impression."

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