Why Howie Mandel regrets apologizing to Kelly Ripa for tense on-air exchange

Howie Mandel now regrets apologizing to TV star Kelly Ripa after scolding her in a tense on-air exchange.

“I don’t believe in apologizing, but as I said in that post, which I kind of regret making, obviously I told a joke that didn’t land well,” the 70-year-old comedian said during an interview on Hot Mics with Billy Bush on Tuesday.

He further said, “Comedians always say, ‘If you can make one person laugh, you’re doing the job, but apparently that’s not enough. It’s not enough."

“So you liked my joke. I’m reading and there’s no stopping it and I don’t understand and I tried to stop it. I tried to apologize. I agreed with people. I do," continued Howie.

The America's Got Talent judge added that he doesn’t “know what’s going on” or “when this will end,” referring to the backlash surrounding the heated argument with Kelly.

“And I hope it ends soon because I didn’t mean to cause any disruption. I didn’t mean to embarrass anybody,” he said.

The drama began last week when Howie appeared as a guest on Live with Kelly and Mark. At one point, the conversation took a serious turn when Kelly complimented Howie on his looks.

"That doesn’t mean anything to me," Howie told Kelly and her husband Mark Consuelos.

The talk show host then clarified that they weren’t “saying you look great for 70.”

“We’re saying you look great and I don’t believe you’re 70,” she said.

Howie responded, “No, no — it’s like saying you’re smart for a stupid person. ‘Oh, you seem smart, you seem smart,’ you see, no, I don’t look good."

After the heated exchange went viral on social media, Howie publicly apologized to Kelly.

“I don't believe that somebody … who's a comedian needs to apologize for a joke. It is a joke. It is meant as a joke, and it's not meant to offend … In all my years, 50 years in the business, I haven't ever publicly kind of apologized for [a joke]. It’s hard for me,” he said in a clip shared on Instagram.