Australian actor Guy Pearce on Tuesday issued an extended apology after saying that cisgender actors should be cast in transgender roles, acknowledging that the way he’d broached the question was “insensitive.” A day prior, Pearce, whose breakout role was as a drag queen in 1994’s The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, had tweeted, “A question—if the only people allowed to play trans characters r trans folk, then r we also suggesting the only people trans folk can play r trans characters?” He continued: “Surely that will limit ur career as an actor? Isn’t the point of an actor to be able play [sic] anyone outside ur own world?” In his Tuesday statement, Pearce said he’d deleted those tweets. “I see that raising the question of gender identity within the casting process on a platform like Twitter was not a good idea. For that, I apologise, enormously,” he said. “I acknowledge it has only stirred up and inflamed attitudes and made us all dig our heels in. I take responsibility for that and again, apologise for starting a fire.”