“Never say never,” said Justin Bieber ft. Jaden Smith once but how could Elizabeth Banks have known that he was speaking directly to her?

In a tweet last night, Banks addressed the remarks she made while collecting an award for women in filmmaking. She criticized Steven Spielberg for “never” having made a movie with a female lead and was quickly called out for forgetting that Spielberg directed the popular film “The Color Purple.”

“I messed up,” wrote Banks in a tweet. “When I made the comments, I was thinking of recent films Steven directed, it was not my intention to dismiss the import of the iconic #TheColorPurple … those who have the privilege and honor of directing and producing films should be held to account for our mistakes, whether it’s about diversity or inaccurate statements. I’m very sorry.”

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pic.twitter.com/Sea684ZUoI

— Elizabeth Banks (@ElizabethBanks) June 15, 2017

Of course, Spielberg doesn’t deserve a cookie for having made a film or two with a lady protagonist and it’s not on his behalf that the indignant masses are going to war (save for a few passionate men’s rights activists). Rather, people are upset that Banks forgot such an important movie with a black female lead.

We all make mistakes and Banks delivered a classy apology. Maybe now she’ll take Justin Bieber up on his very sage advice.

Becky Scott is the editor of The Schmooze. Follow her on Twitter at @arr_scott

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