Update: Denis Leary Tries to Explain Away Autism Quote

A now infamous quote from Denis Leary's new book Why We Suck: A Feel-Good Guide to Staying Fat, Loud, Lazy and Stupid that have been ciculating says, in nutshell, "your kids aren't autistic. They're stupid or lazy, and it's been causing quite a stir. Needless to say, people were/are pissed.

Leary now claims that the quotes were “taken out of context” and in a statement issued to E! said  “I not only support the current rational approaches to the diagnoses and treatment of real autism but have witnessed it firsthand while watching very dear old friends raise a functioning autistic child. The point of the chapter is not that autism doesn't exist – it obviously does – and I have nothing but admiration and respect for parents dealing with the issue, including the ones I know. The bulk of the chapter deals with grown men who are either self-diagnosing themselves with low-level offshoots of the disease or wishing they could as a way to explain their failed careers and troublesome progeny."

Smells a lot like trying to get free promotion for his book. Like they say, there’s no such thing as bad press. Regardless of his intentions, I still ain’t reading it.