Peter Diamandis, head of the X Prize Foundation, has formally apologized for remarks he made last night as part of his talk at an International Space Development Conference (ISDC) awards banquet here in Los Angeles.

In a statement sent to SPACE.com, Diamandis said:

“I want to apologize for comments that I made last night regarding the ‘economies of scale’ that the German V2 rocket had. The comments that I made did not recognize that the cost of that launch vehicle were only made possible through the slave labor of thousands of people that were held during one of the darkest periods of human history,” Diamandis explained. “It was a completely inappropriate and insensitive example and I will not use it again,” he added.

“My comments were not consistent with the vision that all of us hold for our future in space. My speech was written in the hours just before, and I didn’t think appropriately about what I was writing. I apologize to anyone who was offended by what I said,” Diamandis explained.