Comedian and actor Mike Epps recently garnered immense backlash on social media for posting a controversial photo on Twitter in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

In the photo that has since been deleted, a group of white men are shown picking cotton in a cotton field while a black man cracks a whip over their heads, TMZ reports. An image of Dr. King is also shown smiling down at the scene in the photo.

"I am so proud of you bro! Lol," Epps captioned the photo.

Since the Twitter photo-gone-wrong, Epps has issued an apology via TMZ insisting that the photo was meant as a joke, and he is not racist. He explained that the controversial photo was originally sent to him through email from his nephews. Upon viewing the photo, Epps found it to be funny and posted it to Twitter as a joke.

"I was just cracking a joke. I'm a comedian man. I thought it was funny. ... I didn't mean no harm. If I offended anybody, I apologize," he told TMZ.

In August, Epps was cast to play Richard Pryor, Entertainment Weekly reported. He announced the news via Twitter along with Oprah Winfrey and Lee Daniels, who will direct the biopic.

The Pryor movie has been in the works for years with other actors once casted for the title role, including Eddie Murphy, Marlon Wayans and, most recently, Nick Cannon. In 2005, Pryor himself named Epps as his pick to portray him in the movie, and Daniels and Winfrey ultimately honored his choice, Deadline reported.

"I met Richard and felt like I was in Oz the whole time. It's hard to describe what he means to me or any stand-up comic," Epps said about learning Pryor picked him to play the title role. "You could say he's paid the dues for everything we do up there."

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