Madonna is apologising for using a racial slur to refer to her white son on Instagram.

On Friday night, she posted a picture of her 13-year-old son Rocco boxing and used a hashtag that contained a variation of the n-word.

When fans objected, she defiantly called them haters, but in a statement on Saturday she was contrite, saying: “Forgive me.”

Madonna said she was not a racist and she did not mean to use the word as a slur but knew there was no way to defend its use. She said she used it as a term of endearment.

She said she apologised if it gave the wrong impression.

Besides Rocco, Madonna has three other children, including two black children adopted from the African nation Malawi.