After saying that white male writers are a subject to a “form of racism,” author James Patterson has offered an apology for his remarks, Deadline reports.

In an interview with The Sunday Times to promote his newest book James Patterson: The Stories of My Life. Patterson, who is worth an estimated $800 million, complained about the struggle white men endure in pursuit of writing jobs in film, theater, TV, and publishing industries. He described it as “just another form of racism.

“What’s that all about?” Patterson asked. “Can you get a job? Yes. Is it harder? Yes. It’s even harder for older writers. You don’t meet many 52-year-old white males.”

Facing an immediate backlash on social media, Patterson took to Twitter to apologize for his remarks.

“I apologize for saying white male writers having trouble finding work is a form of racism,” Patterson said. “I absolutely do not believe that racism is practiced against white writers. Please know that I strongly support a diversity of voices being heard—in literature, in Hollywood, everywhere.”

According to  UCLA’s 2022 Hollywood Diversity Report, writing credits by people of color in last year’s top 200 films had more than quadrupled since 2011, jumping from 7.6 to 32.3%.

A 2020 New York Times study found that in a sample of 7,124 books published between 1950 and 2018, 95% were written by white authors and in the year 2018, the number was 89%.

To reach equal status with their white counterparts, people of color would have “to increase their 2021 share by about 10 percentage points to reach proportionate representation in this employment arena (42.7%)," the report reads.

Over the course of his writing career, Patterson has published more than 200 books and several of his novels have been adapted for the big screen such as the 1997 film Kiss the Girls and 2001's Along Came a Spider, both starring Morgan Freeman as Alex Cross.

In the third installment of the film series, Tyler Perry played the character in the 2012 film Alex Cross.