Madonna's racial slur had the internet abuzz with controversy and backlash on Friday after the "Material Girl" singer uploaded a photo of her 13-year-old son Rocco Ritchie boxing, with the offensive term used in the hashtag accompanying the snapshot.

The pop star apologised publicly for using the offensive racial slur to refer to her son on the Instagram post.

"I am sorry if I offended anyone with my use of the 'n-word'," Madonna said in an official statement issued Saturday regarding her racial slur.

The "Like A Virgin" singer added that, "It's a provocative word" and she apologizes if it gave people the wrong impression of her.

"It was not meant as a racial slur. I am not a racist. There's no way to defend the use of the word," Madonna explained.

Madonna's controversial comment was immediately deleted from her account on the social media site after receiving harsh backlash from a portion of her 1.1 million followers for using the hashtag "#disnigga."

The pop star later re-uploaded the same image on Instagram, added a defiant and largely unprintable new caption that read: "Ok, let me start this again."

Madonna later deleted the post completely on Saturday afternoon, releasing a statement shortly after through her publicist, saying "forgive me."

"It was all about intention," Madonna explained. "It was used as a term of endearment toward my son who is white.

Rocco is Madonna's only son with ex-husband Guy Ritchie. Besides Rocco, the pop star also has three other children, including Lourdes, Mercy and David.

Her two youngest children were both adopted from the African nation of Malawi.