Rosie O’Donnell has apologized to Melania Trump for suggesting that her son Barron has autism.
It comes after she retweeted a video last week suggesting the 10-year-old was autistic, with the caption: “Barron Trump autistic? If so – what an amazing opportunity to bring attention to the AUTISM epidemic.”
The video used footage of the school boy looking tired taken from his father Donald Trump’s presidential victory speech – which took place at 3am in the morning – to point out several behaviors that may indicate he has the condition.
Angry Melania fired back with a legal letter threatening to sue O’Donnell.
Now the former View host publicly apologized to Melania – tweeting: “I apologize to @MELANIATRUMP – i was insensitive in my RT – i am sorry for the pain i caused – it was not my intent – i am truly sorry.”
The apology only remained public momentarily before O’Donnell switched her account to private.
The 54-year-old was shamed on Twitter after posting the YouTube video but continued to defend herself until now.
The day after the video was posted she tweeted: “I didn’t make the video, I watched it, and I found it compelling.
“Not my movie clip. Lots of us, who raise autistic children, notice things many would miss. Somethings felt familiar. #NoshameAUTISM.”
O’Donnell’s own daughter Dakota, three, has autism, which she was diagnosed with in September, and the star claimed she just wanted to bring awareness to the issue.
“My 3.5 yr old daughter dakota was diagnosed in September with HFA – high functioning autism…
“When I saw the anti bullying video that mentioned Barron, it spoke to the symptoms many ASD kids have. It was educational and informational.
“This autism subject had nothing to do with Donald though i admit he does trigger me in all ways.
“I have no ill will for his children or any children and if u knew anything about me u would know that (sic).”