Actress Holly Robinson Peete has criticised rapper J. Cole following his controversial reference to autism in his new collaboration with Drake.

The 21 Jump Street star, whose eldest son Rodney, Jr. is autistic, was furious when she heard the lyrics to the pair's track Jodeci Freestyle, which pokes fun at the condition in a line which reads, "Go check the numbers dummy, that's just me gettin' started/ I'm artistic, you n**gas is autistic, retarded."

Now Peete has taken aim at the 28 year old, who performs the rhyme, for setting a bad example.

She told U.S. Tv news show Access Hollywood, "This was first brought to my attention by my son, who is 15, with autism, loves J.Cole, loves Drake. He brought it (up) to me, because he looks at all the lyrics. He said, 'Mum what does this mean?' And I was so devastated when I read it, I had to read it like five times and try to find some other context where this could make sense, 'cause everything I know about J. Cole is that he's a very intelligent man, he went to college, he graduated top of his class. He's a very smart rapper and I understand the artistic expression and everything, but this right here is so irresponsible. It hurt my feelings so much."

Choking back tears, she called on J. Cole to apologise for using the derogatory language.

She added, "I just don't (think) these artists know how powerful (they are)... because my son is struggling to fit in, and I mean struggling, so when I see an artist, with this kind of following, who is writing not just autistic, but trying to make it the new r-word, (it) is not going to happen on our watch... I hope he apologises and I hope he takes it out (of the song)."

This isn't the first time Peete has taken aim at a rapper over an inappropriate use of words - she previously targeted 50 Cent after he called a Twitter.com user autistic last year (12) during an argument online.