Actor Mickey Rourke poses for a portrait while promoting his film "The Wrestler" during the International Film Festival in Toronto, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008. (Carlo Allegri, The Associated Press File Photo)

Gay rights activists have laid into actor Mickey Rourke, after his attempt to defend his use of a homophobic slur.

Rourke courted controversy last year when he was caught on camera calling a journalist a f**got.

When probed this week about his use of the term, the Wrestler star told TMZ.com it was merely an insult and not anti-gay.

But campaigners at the Gay and Lesbian Alliance against Defamation (GLAAD) disagree, telling the website, "This is a slur that, regardless of what Mickey Rourke has convinced himself that it means, is often the last word that gay people, and gay youth in particular, hear before they're bullied, harassed or assaulted.

"Rourke is showing himself to be painfully ignorant of how this vulgar, abusive slur feeds a climate of anti-gay hatred, intolerance and violence.

"Rourke either needs to figure this out, or media needs to stop giving him a platform for promoting these kinds of slurs."