NEW YORK -- Knicks forward Amare Stoudemire has apologized to a fan for using a gay slur in response to a crude tweet in which the fan admonished the All-Star to "make up for this past season."

The fan, whose Twitter handle is BFerrelli, tweeted his comment on Saturday and received a direct message containing an expletive and the slur from the account Twitter verifies as Stoudemire's. BFerrelli, identified by the Daily News as Brian Ferrelli, posted a screen shot of the direct message. Direct messages can only be seen by the sender and the recipient.

Stoudemire apologized early Sunday, using another direct message that BFerrelli posted as a screen shot, saying "I apologize for what I said earlier. I just got off the plane and had time to think about it. Sorry bro!! No Excuses. Won't happen again."

Calls to the Knicks and the NBA weren't immediately returned, but multiple media reports in New York said that the league is planning to investigate the situation.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.