Arie Apologized For His Controversial April Fools' Prank, But Not Everyone Is Buying It

April Fools' Day is a classic time to pull pranks, but not everyone appreciated Bachelor star Arie Luyendyk Jr.'s joke about his fiancée being pregnant. Following the backlash, Arie apologized for his April Fool's Day stunt — but not everyone is buying the apology. After Arie tweeted his statement on Monday afternoon, plenty of people responded to let him know they didn't think it was enough.

The "joke" in question involves a photo Arie shared on Twitter on Sunday. The image shows a pregnant woman with long hair and an engagement ring, though her face isn't visible in the image. Arie captioned the photo, "Secrets finally out, we have a bunny in the oven!" and mentioned Lauren Burnham in the tweet. The implication, of course, was that Arie and Lauren are expecting — but it turns out the photo wasn't actually her at all. An hour and a half after tweeting out the original photo, Arie added a second tweet that simply read, "APRIL FOOLS!"

The original photo drew criticism from a number of people, with some claiming that the joke was insensitive to those who have experienced issues with fertility. That prompted the following Twitter apology from Arie on Monday:

"I do have sympathy for women struggling from infertility. My April Fools prank was in no way meant to offend women who struggle with that. I apologize if you were effected personally by my post."

The apology shows that Arie did hear the response to his joke, and that he sees why it didn't land with some people. Still, not everyone accepted the apology — especially since Arie apologizes "if" people were affected by it, not for the joke itself.

One person broke down why Arie's apology wasn't enough, writing that the April Fool's Day prank is her "living nightmare." Another person wrote that Arie's apology comes almost a full day after he posted the joke. "This isn't an apology, it's damage control proven by fact you took ~20 hours before posting it," the fan responded to Arie's statement.

Still, not everyone was bothered by the joke. Some fans also replied to Arie's tweet to say that they weren't offended, including one person who says she's battled fertility issues. "Having struggled with infertility myself, I did not find your posts offensive. Especially considering the date that it was posted," one person responded to Arie's tweet.

There's also the fact that Arie seemed to make light of the prank on Instagram on Sunday, before issuing the formal apology. In a photo shared to his Instagram Story, Arie wrote, "Sorry if you were offended, but we really are making a Dutch baby." The text is overlaid on a photo of the recipe for a baked treat called the Dutch baby, a sort of pancake with crispy, popover-style edges. Like his tweet, Arie's "sorry" puts the emphasis on the people who reacted to the joke, not on what he actually did.

While some people are responding to Arie's tweet by suggesting that others are too easily offended, it's not difficult to see why the joke was so controversial. Struggles with fertility have affected millions of people in the United States, as pointed out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And for some people who've experienced miscarriages or difficulty getting pregnant, it can be hard to see the humor in Arie's trick photo.

Still, it's clear that Arie didn't mean anything negative when he posted the photo, and that he thought it would just be a lighthearted joke. But despite Arie's efforts to joke around (and even poke fun at himself at times), it looks like he's not going to be in the good graces of Bachelor fans anytime soon.