Heartthrob Joseph Gordon-Levitt deeply disappointed many a female fan last week when he appeared to side with Adam Carolla in the ongoing "are women funny" debate.

"Most pretty girls aren't funny," said the actor during the Looper Comic-Con panel in an effort to compliment co-star Emily Blunt on "her ability to make him laugh."

But the curious wording only made Blunt "bristle," according to Variety's Josh Dickey (whose transcript, by the way, has JGL saying the somewhat less radioactive phrase "pretty girls aren't usually funny").

In a red carpet interview with Yahoo's OMG! posted today, Gordon-Levitt was given the opportunity to explain his incendiary remark.

"I'm actually glad you asked me about that, because I was embarrassed," he said. "Sometimes the words come out really wrong, and sometimes the words come out really wrong in front of thousands of people. I do apologize."

The 31-year-old went on to say that he was trying to "get at" the fact that "in our culture, girls do tend to get pigeonholed...and I was trying and failing to pay [Blunt] a compliment about the fact that she really succeeded in avoiding those traps and not getting pigeonholed, and even though she's a very good looking young women she is so funny and plays such a badass and a strong woman in Looper."

Seems to me like he's still saying pretty much the same thing, but I can't stay mad at JGL. I just can't.

[Yahoo via ONTD, photo via Getty]