(Screenshot via YouTube)

“American Idol” finalist La’Porsha Renae is backtracking on comments she made about the LGBT community and says her words were “twisted up” in a recent interview.

The Mississippi born singer, 22, was asked by a reporter during a media conference call about Mississippi’s “religious freedom” law.

“This is how I feel about the LGBT community: They are people just like us. They’re not animals as someone stated before. They’re people with feelings. Although all of us may not agree with that particular lifestyle for religious reasons, whatever the reason is, you still treat each other with respect. Everybody is a human being. We should be able to coexist with one another,” Renae responded.

“I am one of the people who don’t really agree with that lifestyle. I wasn’t brought up that way. It wasn’t how I was raised. But I do have a lot of friends and a lot of people that I love dearly who are gay and homosexual and they’re such sweet, nice people. We should just respect each other’s differences and opinions and move on,” Renae continued.

In a Periscope stream on Sunday, Renae said her words were “twisted” and she didn’t mean any offense by her comments.

“I tried to be as open and honest and neutral as possible, but that’s the way interviews go. Sometimes when you do interviews, it gets twisted up,” Renae says. “I can understand when I read it back why people were offended, and for that I deeply apologize. I wasn’t trying to offend anyone. I was just trying to honestly answer a question that caught me off guard. It was supposed to be an interview about singing, and it became political and I’m not a political person at all.”

We don’t have to agree with each other’s life choices to love/respect one another. Live and let live. #RENAETION #RespectThatWeAreDifferent

— La’Porsha~Renae (@laporsharenae) April 9, 2016

|REPLAY| THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT! ! #katch #Periscope https://t.co/tKIUs2HSLB pic.twitter.com/tuj4tXWdZk

— La’Porsha~Renae (@laporsharenae) April 10, 2016