Pop impresario Louis Walsh today apologised for suggesting that the Special Olympics are "little more than an ego trip" for the organisers.
The former 'Popstars' judge sparked a storm of controversy when he said Irish people were not really interested in watching next week's contest.
Organisers of the games accused him of insulting tens of thousands of people who had given up years preparing for the event.
In an interview printed in yesterday's Irish Times Mr Walsh, who is from Co Mayo, compared the competition to a "State funeral" that Irish people were not really interested in watching.
Today he said the remarks were directed only at public figures who used the event as a public relations stunt. And he said he was only saying in public what many people thought in private.
"It was never my intention to insult anybody, especially the tens of thousands of people that work on the Special Olympics behind the scenes," he said.
"I would never want to hurt or insult anybody and I apologise to anyone I did hurt or insult."
Walsh was quoted in The Irish Times as saying that the Special Olympics were "not the kind of thing you want to watch on TV".
He told the newspaper: "It's a lot like a State funeral on television, you know, people will watch a bit here and there, but I don't think people are interested in it really.
"They certainly won't be glued to it. They won't be watching it in Kiltimagh, where I'm from."
The music manager told Irish radio he was not getting at the behind-the-scenes organisers of the event.
But he added: "I think some of the people up-front are definitely using it as a PR stunt.
"I am not going to name names, I will be in even more trouble then. It was a bit careless of me to say it was an ego trip for the organisers but I think it is definitely an ego trip for certain people involved in it."
PA