Nick Offerman didn’t mince words on Sunday night when he used his time on stage at the Spirit Awards to call out the hateful and homophobic comments his character received in his episode of The Last of Us.

While accepting the award for best supporting performance in a new scripted series, Offerman thanked HBO for “having the guts” to tell a gay love story in the episode “Long, Long Time.”

“Thanks to HBO for having the guts to participate in this storytelling tradition that is truly independent,” he said. “Stories with guts that when homophobic hate comes my way and says, ‘Why did you have to make it a gay story?’ We say, ‘Because you ask questions like that. It’s not a gay story, it’s a love story, you asshole!”

His comments received a round of applause and cheers from the audience. The actor finished his speech on a humorous note, thanking his team and wife, Megan Mullally, whom he called “my bride and my puzzle coach and legal property.”

“Long, Long Time” took a break from the main storyline of “The Last of Us” and followed Offerman and Murray Bartlett, telling the two men’s love story across 20 years.

“This is the most convincing argument yet that The Last of Us is a show about humans first, and gory creatures a very, very distant second,” Rolling Stone‘s Alan Sepinwall wrote of the episode. “And this was a wonderfully powerful, achingly human story.”

Offerman’s as Bill in “The Last of Us” also earned him an Emmy Award for best guest actor in a drama series earlier this year.