Los Angeles, Jun 14 (IANS): Filmmaker Spike Lee has issued an apology for his comments defending director and his friend Woody Allen against the whole "cancel culture" in Hollywood.

He took to Twitter to take back his words of support, reports variety.com.

"I deeply apologise. My words were wrong. I do not and will not tolerate sexual harassment, assault or violence. Such treatment causes real damage that can't be minimised," he posted on Twitter on Saturday.

In an interview on a radio station WOR's talk show "In the Morning", Lee shared his thoughts on how Allen has been treated. "I'd just like to say Woody Allen is a great, great filmmaker and this cancel thing is not just Woody. And I think when we look back on it we are going to see that -- short of killing somebody -- I don't know you that you can just erase somebody like they never existed," Lee said.

"Woody is a friend of mine, a fellow Knick fan, so I know he's going through it right now," he added.

Allen has fallen out of grace with many people after accusations resurfaced that he molested his adoptive daughter Dylan Farrow when she was 7-years-old. He has denied the allegations. Earlier this year, Allen's memoir was released after facing a lot of issues with several publishers rejecting it. Amazon also canceled a movie deal with Allen, resulting in them settling a $68 million lawsuit.