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Soon after Varun Dhawan's apology, Karan Johar has now clarified that the IIFA joke was 'misunderstood' after it left a bad taste among audiences and fans.

The two along with Saif Ali Khan took a dig at Kangana Ranaut at the IIFAs this year by making a joke about nepotism, but KJo says it was harmless and taken out of context.

In an interview with NDTV, the director said, "Of course I don't believe that 'nepotism rocks'. Of course, I believe that only talent rocks. If anything that rocks, it's your talent, hard work and conviction. It's the energy you bring to your job. What we said was meant to be a joke, which I think has been misplaced, misunderstood and I think it went wrong. I regret it."

Also read: Varun Dhawan, Saif Ali Khan and Karan Johar defend nepotism, take a dig at Kangana at IIFA 2017

He then expressed his deepest regrets at bringing up the matter.

"No matter what I say or feel about my issues with what Kangana said on my talk show 'Koffee With Karan', I think I was raised to be a dignified, a chivalrous, and a decent person. That's the upbringing that I was given and I feel that I failed on those accounts. I felt that no matter what my thoughts or personal issues on this, I should not have repeatedly brought that up. For that, I'm deeply regretful."

Also read: Kangana Ranaut called out Karan Johar for nepotism and he's not happy

"It was something that we said in humour, it may be terrible humour, bad humour, misplaced humour, but our intention was not to hurt anyone. That very core is what failed. Then I got carried away in the moment and I regret that," KJo added.

Karan hopes to finally put an end to the nepotism debate: "I want to once and for all say and close this chapter after this and subsequently I will not speak about nepotism nor Kangana because it would be distrustful for her and it would be ungraceful at my end, which I've already been. Nepotism is easy access, nobody can deny that, but what you do with that access is what moulds you into a professional."