The Reddit user whose gif was appropriated by Donald Trump in the president’s infamous CNN-wrestling video has apologized for creating the image – and for making a series of racist, antisemitic and Islamophobic posts.

HanAssholeSolo, who claimed to have created the gif that inspired Trump to post a video of him wrestling a man with a CNN logo superimposed on his head, said he was “trolling” when he used a series of racial slurs on Reddit, and said his gif had been “satire” that was not meant to call for violence against journalists. HanAssholeSolo’s apology came after CNN reportedly identified him.

The Reddit user had faced criticism after it emerged he had repeatedly used racial slurs and posted antisemitic images to the site. In one post, HanAssholeSolo called for another commenter to “keep up the good work until the last Islamic piece of shit is wiped from the planet”.

Trump is yet to apologize for sharing the video; it is unclear how the president discovered HanAssholeSolo’s post. The White House did not respond to requests for comment on Monday, but the revelations about HanAssholeSolo’s past added to questions about the president’s internet use and sourcing.

In July 2016, Trump tweeted an antisemitic image attacking Hillary Clinton. It was later reported that the image had been taken from an internet message board used by white supremacists.

HanAssholeSolo issued his apology in a lengthy post to Reddit on Tuesday.

“First of all, I would like to apologize to the members of the Reddit community for getting this site and this sub embroiled in a controversy that should never have happened,” he wrote.

“I would also like to apologize for the posts made that were racist, bigoted, and antisemitic. I am in no way this kind of person, I love and accept people of all walks of life and have done so for my entire life.

“I am not the person that the media portrays me to be in real life, I was trolling and posting things to get a reaction from the subs on reddit and never meant any of the hateful things I said in those posts. I would never support any kind of violence or actions against others simply for what they believe in, their religion, or the lifestyle they choose to have.

“Nor would I carry out any violence against anyone based upon that or support anyone who did.”

The post has since been removed from Reddit, and HanAssholeSolo has deleted his account. In the apology he said he did not “advocate violence against the press” and that the meme “was created purely as satire”.

“I had no idea anyone would take it and put sound to it and then have it put up on the president’s Twitter feed.

“It was a prank, nothing more. What the president’s feed showed was not the original post that was posted here, but loaded up somewhere else and sound added to it then sent out on Twitter. I thought it was the original post that was made and that is why I took credit for it.

“I have the highest respect for the journalist community and they put their lives on the line every day with the jobs that they do in reporting the news.”

On Monday, CNN said it had identified the man behind the HanAssholeSolo account. The news organization said it was not publishing his name “because he is a private citizen who has issued an extensive statement of apology, showed his remorse by saying he has taken down all his offending posts, and because he said he is not going to repeat this ugly behavior on social media again”.

CNN said it “reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change”.