In the wake of the “not guilty” verdict in the Florida trial of George Zimmerman for the self-defense shooting of Trayvon Martin, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews felt the need to apologize for “all white people.”

During the July 18 broadcast of Hardball, Matthews made the all-encompassing apology as part of a discussion on racial profiling.

“We got to continue this conversation, gentlemen, privately and on television,” Matthews said. “I mean a lot of people out there–I’ll just tell you one thing, and I’m speaking now for all white people, but especially for [those] who have had to try to change the last 50 or 60 years. And they, a lot of them have really tried to change and I’m sorry for this stuff. That’s all I’m saying.”

George Zimmerman is Hispanic.