A member of the Beastie Boys wrote a letter to Time Out New York magazine, apologizing for the rap trio's homophobic past, after the magazine took the group to task in an album review of a career anthology, The Sounds of Science, the band's spokesperson confirmed. "I would like to ... formally apologize to the entire gay and lesbian community for the sh---y and ignorant things we said on our first record, 1986's Licensed to Ill," Ad-Rock (born Adam Horovitz) wrote in the Dec. 16 issue of the magazine. "There are no excuses. But time has healed our stupidity. ... We hope that you'll accept this long overdue apology." The review of the anthology questioned why the Beasties — who have changed offensive lyrics from the album's songs in concert — never addressed some of the homophobic lyrics on their debut album, whose working title, the bandmembers have said in interviews, was Don't Be a Faggot.