Halle Berry apologizes for inappropriate joke

Actress Halle Berry has apologized for her crude joke at last Friday's taping of NBC's "The Tonight Show."

Photo: Halle Berry apologizes for inappropriate joke

Berry, showed host Jay Leno photos of herself that she had distorted by using computer software, and remarked that one snapshot - in which her nose appeared cartoonishly large - made her "look like my Jewish cousin."

After she made the comment, Leno joked: "I'm glad you said it."

"I so didn't mean to offend anybody - and after the show I realized it could be seen as offensive, so I asked Jay to take it out, and he did," Berry told the New York Post for Tuesday's editions.

"What happened was I was backstage before the show and I have three girls who are Jewish who work for me," she said. "We were going through pictures to see which ones looked silly, and one of my Jewish friends said, `That could be your Jewish cousin!"'

"And I guess it was fresh in my mind, and it just came out of my mouth," said Berry, who was promoting her new film, "Things We Lost in the Fire."

"Tonight Show" publicist Tracy St. Pierre did not immediately return an e-mail seeking comment Thursday.

Berry, who won the best-actress Oscar for 2001's "Monster's Ball," is expecting her first child with boyfriend Gabriel Aubry.