Fox Issues Official Apology Over Controversial X-Men: Apocalypse Ad

A billboard advertising Fox's X-Men: Apocalypse has been making the news for all the wrong reasons lately, and now the studio has issued an official statement and apology on the matter (via Entertainment Weekly).

"In our enthusiasm to show the villainy of the character Apocalypse we didn't immediately recognize the upsetting connotation of this image in print form. Once we realized how insensitive it was, we quickly took steps to remove those materials. We apologize for our actions and would never condone violence against women."

Fox has taken measures to make sure those promotional materials are taken down, and the studio seems to realize just where they went askew. The image does get across the "villainy" of Apocalypse, but without the context of a film trailer (where the scene has been featured heavily), it just doesn't work as intended.

This all comes after a huge amount of animosity was heaved the studios way, especially from actress Rose McGowan, who said: "There is a major problem when the men and women at 20th Century Fox think casual violence against women is the way to market a film. There is no context in the ad, just a woman getting strangled. The fact that no one flagged this is offensive and frankly, stupid. The geniuses behind this, and I use that term lightly, need to to take a long hard look at the mirror and see how they are contributing to society. Imagine if it were a black man being strangled by a white man, or a gay male being strangled by a hetero? The outcry would be enormous. So let's right this wrong. 20th Century Fox, since you can't manage to put any women directors on your slate for the next two years, how about you at least replace your ad?"