Mumbai, Sept. 15: Salman Khan has said sorry and stopped tweeting, but his comment on 26/11 appears to have struck a chord just like his fearless cop act in Dabangg has.

Support and sympathy poured in for the actor on Twitter, with fans begging him not to quit the microblogging site. “Don’t don’t don’t,” wrote Tarandeepss. “Twitter will be like empty empty without you,” echoed Addyknows. “Sir u broke our heart by quitng tweet & I’m actually breaking my phone,” said Arniboy77.

In a late night post, the actor had said he would go off Twitter following the backlash to his comment on 26/11 — he had said in an interview to a Pakistani channel that the terror attack was hyped because the rich were targeted.

He wrote: “Hurt v hurt, yeh kya? straight thru my heart. My mum dady aar my bro’s my sisters. family had to go thru torture on Eid Ganesh Utsav.”

The Shiv Sena and other political parties had hit out at the actor for his 26/11 comment, so had many Twitterers, led by celebrity writer Shobhaa De who went to the extent of calling for a boycott of Dabangg, which has had the biggest box office opening for a Hindi film this year.

Salman tweeted again in the early hours: “Looks like I mite hv to get off twitter. Don’t want to but wat to do? I think I messed up.”

The actor also apologised for his comment. “So sorry guys, sorry bolne mein koi sharam nahi (I am not ashamed of saying sorry).” Then his tweets stopped, but support poured in on his Twitter page.

“I just saw @Beingsalmankhan’s interview. He raised some very valid points, because it was for a Pakistani channel, became controversial,” wrote Yajuarya.

Another Twitterer, DeathEndsFun, asked: “What was wrong w/ Salman Khan’s words? Think: plaque for Taj victims, nothing for train blasts(7/11 200 dead), or for 1,000 killed 1992.” “Salman khan was right about 26/11. If it was not TAJ but any other place in the suburb the so called famous writers, celebrities, media, industrialists and netas would not have reacted much because they know they are safe,” Sunil Nair wrote on the social networking site Facebook.

Even those who did not agree with the actor thought the controversy was unnecessary. Nishanth_rao wrote: “Who hasn’t spoken out something stupid and regretted it later. Just chill.”

Ramzan Kadar Shariff, who was injured in the attack and lost his grandfather to the bullets of Pakistani gunmen, said to The Telegraph: “It was wrong of Salman to speak to a Pakistani channel in this manner as if he was undermining what happened here. Besides, 26/11 was the biggest terrorist act captured on live television unlike other terrorist attacks, such as the July 11 serial train blasts, and obviously the hype was more.” But he added: “We should put this behind us as Salman has immediately realised his mistake and apologised.”

Shobhaa De came in for flak in tweet after tweet. “You stink ShobhaaDe! Can you show some maturity? Very Thackerayish response,” wrote Arun Mulge.

While Shiv Sena and BJP leaders had demanded an unqualified apology from the actor, De had tweeted: “Salman K’s shocking statement abt 26/11 smacks of arrogance, ignorance and plain stupidity. A lame apology won’t do, Sallubhai. boycott Dabangg! “But Dabangg was going strong, not affected in the least by the controversy. Trade analyst Taran Adarsh said the film had raked in Rs 14.5 crore on Friday, Rs 16 crore on Saturday, Rs 17.5 to Rs 18 crore on Sunday, and continued to do well on Monday in multiplexes as well as single screen theatres.

“Dabangg occupied No. 1 place among Bollywood’s top openers. Business is noteworthy because unlike other biggies, the ticket rates were not hiked to capitalise on the craze of the film. On Monday, it is rock-steady everywhere,” Adarsh said.

The actor found support from some of his Bollywood colleagues too.

Sonam Kapoor, who made her debut with Salman in Saawariya, tweeted: “Don’t worry. People like pulling you down because they are jealous. Totally with you. Lots of love.”

Anupam Kher wrote: “Met Salman and wished him for the stupendous success of Dabangg. Don’t think he meant what is being implied :).”

Director Anurag Kashyap, whose younger brother Abhinav has directed Dabangg, accused the media of manipulating Salman’s comments.

The Shiv Sena, too, changed its tune today. “There is no reason for us to harbour anger against Salman. His family is nationalist and patriotic in true sense,” Sena chief Bal Thackeray wrote in party mouthpiece Saamana.

In Twitterverse, the Dabangg star got not only support and sympathy but also praise. Vivek Tiwari wrote: “Bada Aadmi Bada Dil Aur usse bhi badi Himmat.... Not everyone has the guts to say sorry.”