Steve Rannazzisi
Steve Rannazzisi, pictured here at a Samsung event in Los Angeles on Oct. 26, 2014, recently talked to Howard Stern about his lie about being at the twin towers on 9/11. Getty

“The League” actor Steve Rannazzisi has been in hot water ever since it came to light last month that he’d been lying about being in the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001. Now that the initial backlash has died down, the comedian and actor is opening up and trying to explain himself the best he can.

Rannazzisi appeared on "The Howard Stern Show" Tuesday to talk about the recent reveal and come clean more than he already has. He told Stern that, because he and his show are so synonymous with New York City, he deemed it the perfect medium for his contrition.

“It wasn’t calculated at all. It was as simple as sitting at the Comedy Store and everyone going: ‘Hey, you’re from New York?’” the comedian told Stern (via TMZ). “You have like 15 seconds I think to go: ‘hold on, wait, I’m sorry, that’s not true.’ If you wait past that 15 seconds, it becomes a thing where now I’m the guy who is very strange and very weird who lied about 9/11.”

As previously reported, the 37-year-old comedian posted a lengthy apology on Twitter after it came to light that he was not, in fact, working at a Merrill Lynch branch in the south tower (no such branch existed) when the neighboring building was hit. While he was in the city that day, an expose from the New York Times revealed he was working in Midtown at the time.

Rannazzisi was clearly still emotional and rattled by the incident as he discussed how it’s affected his family and his sense of pride since the secret was exposed. Above all, he wants to extend his apologies to the people who were actually there that day exhibiting the bravery he only said he had.

“The hurt and pain and nervousness that you hear now comes from… Because I know what I did was terrible,” a choked up Rannazzisi says in the clip. “I know that I hurt a lot of people -- people that lost people, people that helped people survive. And those are the people that I am truly sorry to. I feel awful.”

According to Stern’s official website, the actor also commented on his flub with “Saturday Night Live" cast member Pete Davidson, who lost his father on 9/11. As previously reported, Rannazzisi missed a dig that the comedian made at him on Twitter about the incident, which the two immediately got in contact with each other to resolve.

“We spoke that day and I apologized to him and the thing that he said to me was that people make mistakes,” Rannazzisi told Stern. “I can’t even say ‘thank you’ enough to Pete Davidson. That guy, he’s top notch.”

What are your thoughts on the Steve Rannazzisi controversy? Comment below or tweet your thoughts to @TylerMcCarthy.

RELATED STORIES