A day after questioning a female reporter's football knowledge, Cam Newton apologized Thursday via social media for what he called an "extremely degrading and disrespectful" choice of words.

Charlotte Observer beat reporter Jourdan Rodrigue asked Newton during Wednesday's news conference about Devin Funchess embracing the physicality of routes and whether Newton got enjoyment out of that.

Newton laughed and responded, "It's funny to hear a female talk about routes like ... it's funny."

Rodrigue confronted Newton after the news conference, but he did not apologize.

"After careful thought, I understand that my word choice was extremely degrading and disrespectful to women," Newton said in his statement. "And to be honest, that was not my intention. If you are a person who took offense to what I said, I sincerely apologize to you.

"I'm a man who tries to be a positive role model to my community and tries to use my platform to inspire others. I take ownership to everything that comes with that. What I did was extremely unacceptable."

The video came about nine hours after a spokesperson for Dannon Oikos Yogurt said the company no longer would use Newton in its commercials and advertisements and would begin pulling those immediately.