In his defense, he lives in Sweden where there are basically no black people. To him, the N-word is probably on the same level that 'mongoloid' or 'gypsy' is to us. He's got no frame of reference to work with, so a word that's extremely offensive in our culture probably has no similar impact in a culture that didn't have the same history of racial strife as the US.
He'll get flak for saying it, which he should as a public figure. But I doubt he hates black people or really even meant it as a racial attack, if that makes sense.