Holywood actress Salma Hayek apologized after endorsing the controversial Jeanine Cummins' novel American Dirt and its message, admitting she has not read it yet, according to an article by Yahoo.

Released on Tuesday, American Dirt  is the story of a Mexican woman fleeing to the United States with her 8-year-old son after her family members are killed by Mexican drug cartels. The book was widely anticipated, and even got the attention of renowned host Oprah who added the novel in her book club which would have guaranteed best-seller status.

"Our next book club selection is "American Dirt" by @jeaninecummins. It's a heart-wrenching page-turner, and you won't be able to put it down, " Oprah's Book Club posted on Twitter. "Download your copy on @applebooks and #ReadWithUs: https://apple.co/americandirt  #AmericanDirt@Flatironbooks @Oprah."

However, days after its release, the novel as well as its author have been heavily criticized.

According to a review by Parul Sehgal published at New York Times, writer noted the book's alienation of its characters. "The writer has a strange, excited fascination in commenting on gradients of brown skin: Characters are 'berry-brown' or 'tan as childhood,'" Sehgal wrote. Aside from him, Chicana writer Myriam Gurba also criticized the book, noting that it is filled with racist stereotypes and "among them the Latin lover, the suffering mother, and the stoic manchild."

According to a report by New York Times, Cummins who identified as white and Latina wrote in the novel's author's note about Mexican migrants, "At worst, we perceive them as an invading mob of resource-draining criminals, and, at best, a sort of helpless, impoverished, faceless brown mass, clamoring for help at our doorstep." She added, "We seldom think of them as our fellow human beings." She also wrote, "I worried that, as a nonmigrant and non-Mexican, I had no business writing a book set almost entirely in Mexico, set entirely among migrants. I wished someone slightly browner than me would write it." This backfired and drew unified disapproval from many user across the internet.

The 53-year-old Mexican actress posted last week a photo of herself, thanking Oprah for recommending American Dirt to her book club and "giving a voice to the voiceless & for loving harder in response to hate," which she retracted a day later. Hayek removed the photo from social media and posted an apology.

"Yesterday, I posted a message about a book which I removed from my Instagram," wrote Hayek. "I want to say to all of you that I got very excited when Oprah shared with me her pick for her book club because in the description of the book I learned that it was the story of a Mexican woman, so I rushed into sharing my excitement with you."

She continued, "I confess, I have not read it and was not aware of any kind of controversy. I thank all of you who caught me in the act of not doing my research, and for setting me straight, because that means you know me and gave me the benefit of the doubt; and I apologize for shouting out something without experiencing it or doing research on it."

Oprah has not yet released an official statement regarding the controversy surrounding her book club pick.