Chris Pratt may be one of Hollywood's nice guys, but – albeit inadvertently – he recently ended up offending the hearing impaired community. On 4 May, the actor released a lengthy message apologising to over an Instagram comment.

The actor previously posted a promotional video for Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2 on his account and urged viewers to "turn up the volume and not just 'read the subtitles'". The comment, while meant to deter people from watching the clip on mute, ended up coming across as dismissive of those with hearing problems.

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"Instagram does this thing where it mutes all the videos it shows and forces you to turn on the volume in order to hear them. (may be because most people are watching those videos at work when they should be working and don't want to get caught. I know that's when I do it," he wrote in the post, explaining that his early comment "was so people wouldn't scroll past the video on mute, thus watching and digesting the information in the video".

"I realise now doing so was incredibly insensitive to the many folks out there who depend on subtitles," Pratt's post continued. "More than 38 million Americans live with some sort of hearing disability. So I want to apologise."

Along with the typed message, Pratt also posted a video in which he apologises in American Sign Language.

The actor, who is currently filming Jurassic World 2, also called out to Instagram to start offering the option of subtitles for its videos. "Why doesn't Instagram have some kind of technology to automatically add subtitles to its videos? Or at least the option," he wrote. "I've made them lord knows how much money with my videos and pictures. Essentially sharing myself for free. I know they profit. So... GET ON IT INSTAGRAM!!! Put closed captioning on your app. #CCinstaNow."

Chris Pratt
Chris Pratt plays Star-Lord Peter Quill in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 Getty

Instagram does this thing where it mutes all the videos it shows and forces you to turn on the volume in order to hear them. (maybe because most people are watching those videos at work when they should be working and don't want to get caught. I know that's when I do it. 😬) So when I made a video recently with subtitles, and requested that people turn up the volume and not just "read the subtitles" it was so people wouldn't scroll past the video on mute, thus watching and digesting the information in the video. HOWEVER, I realize now doing so was incredibly insensitive to the many folks out there who depend on subtitles. More than 38 million Americans live with some sort of hearing disability. So I want to apologize. I have people in my life who are hearing-impaired, and the last thing in the world I would want to do is offend them or anybody who suffers from hearing loss or any other disability. So truly from the bottom of my heart I apologize. Thanks for pointing this out to me. In the future I'll try to be a little less ignorant about it. Now... I know some of you are going to say, "Hey! Chris only apologized because his publicist made him!" Well. That is not the case. As always I control my social media. Nobody else. And I am doing this because I'm actually really sorry. Apologies are powerful. I don't dole them out Willy-Nilly. This is one of those moments where I screwed up and here's me begging your pardon. I hope you accept my apology. And on that note. Why doesn't Instagram have some kind of technology to automatically add subtitles to its videos? Or at least the option. I did a little exploring and it seems lacking in that area. Shouldn't there be an option for closed captioning or something? I've made them lord knows how much money with my videos and pictures. Essentially sharing myself for free. I know they profit. So... GET ON IT INSTAGRAM!!! Put closed captioning on your app. #CCinstaNow

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