Silverman didn't mean to upset Spears

Sarah Silverman, the comedienne who made a joke about Britney Spears' children being "adorable mistakes" at the MTV Video Music Awards, has insisted that she did not mean to cause such a negative reaction.

The joke was made just moments after Spears delivered her disastrous comeback performance and saw Silverman give a monologue that made digs at Britney's troubles with her ex-husband Kevin Federline and her two sons.

Silverman said of 2-year-old Sean Preston and 1-year-old Jayden James: "They are the most adorable mistakes you will ever see."

But she has insisted that she did not consider that the joke would be hurtful or would cause such a negative reaction.

She told US Weekly: "The joke that everyone was upset about me calling the kids 'adorable mistakes' was the most innocuous joke. It never occurred to me that would be deemed hurtful or over the line.

"I don't want to get into feuds with girls half my age. I'm in it to be funny and not for the drama. It's embarrassing."