Officer calls Gates a banana eating jungle monkey

[Insanecowposse]

(CNN) -- A Boston police officer who sent a mass e-mail referring to Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. as a "banana-eating jungle monkey" has apologized, saying he's not a racist.


Boston police officer Justin Barrett apologizes for the e-mail he sent about the Harvard professor.

1 of 2 Officer Justin Barrett told a Boston television station on Wednesday night that he was sorry for the e-mail.

"I regret that I used such words," Barrett told CNN affiliate WCVB-TV. "I have so many friends of every type of culture and race you can name. I am not a racist."

Barrett was placed on administrative leave after the e-mail surfaced, and he might lose his job as a result.

Barrett, 36, who is also an active member of the National Guard, sent off a fiery e-mail to some fellow Guard members -- as well as The Boston Globe -- in which he vented about a July 22 Globe column about Gates' controversial arrest.