In a recent interview with British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, novelist John Grisham drew a great deal of criticism from child welfare advocates after he stated that many men who have been imprisoned for child pornography are being punished too harshly. Grisham issued an apology through his publisher Thursday, stating that he “regrets having made those comments” and that he never meant to show sympathy for individuals who have been convicted of sex crimes.

In a The Daily Telegraph interview meant to promote his latest legal thriller entitled Gray Mountain, Grisham commented that U.S. prisons are “filled with guys my age. Sixty-year-old white men in prison who have never harmed anybody, would never touch a child.”

“[They] got online one night and started surfing around, probably had too much to drink or whatever, and pushed the wrong buttons, went too far and got into child porn,” the 59-year-old novelist controversially remarked, before going on to say that these man are thus being punished too harshly and shouldn’t be considered “real pedophiles.”

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children’s Jon Brown criticized Grisham and told the BBC that “every image is a real child who has suffered and every time these images are clicked on or downloaded it creates demand that ultimately fuels more child abuse.”

In a statement issued through his publisher Random House, Grisham said that his comments “were in no way intended to show sympathy for those convicted of sex crimes, especially the sexual molestation of children.”

“I can think of nothing more despicable. I regret having made these comments, and apologize to all.”