David Byrne has apologized for using black and brown face in a 1984 promotional skit.

“I acknowledge it was a major mistake in judgement that showed a lack of real understanding,” Byrne wrote on Tuesday. “It’s like looking in a mirror and seeing someone else- you’re not, or were not, the person you thought you were.”

The clip – which was created to promote Talking Heads’ lauded concert film Stop Making Sense – shows Byrne – among other personas – in both black and brown face, asking himself pedantic questions about the band’s music and his own artistic output.

“We have huge blind spots about ourselves- well, I certainly do. I’d like to think I am beyond making mistakes like this, but clearly at the time I was not,” he adds. “Like I say at the end of our Broadway show American Utopia ‘I need to change too’…and I believe I have changed since then. One hopes that folks have the grace and understanding to allow that someone like me, anyone really, can grow and change, and that the past can be examined with honesty and accountability.”

Byrne’s American Utopia film – directed by Spike Lee – is expected to drop on Oct. 17.

The show notably includes “Hell You Talmbout,” a Janelle Monet cover which name-checks a number of black victims of police brutality, from Freddie Gray to Trayvon Martin to Eric Garner to Sharonda Singleton.

Read Byrne’s statement and watch the clip below:

Recently a journalist pointed out something I did in a promo video skit in 1984 for the Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense. In the piece I appear as a number of different characters interviewing myself, and some of the characters portrayed are people of color.

I’d just about forgotten about this skit and I’m grateful that it has been brought to my attention. To watch myself in the various characters, including black and brown face, I acknowledge it was a major mistake in judgement that showed a lack of real understanding. It’s like looking in a mirror and seeing someone else- you’re not, or were not, the person you thought you were.

We have huge blind spots about ourselves- well, I certainly do. I’d like to think I am beyond making mistakes like this, but clearly at the time I was not. Like I say at the end of our Broadway show American Utopia “I need to change too”…and I believe I have changed since then. One hopes that folks have the grace and understanding to allow that someone like me, anyone really, can grow and change, and that the past can be examined with honesty and accountability.

– David Byrne