Denis Leary is an asshole – that’s sort of his schtick. But in his new book, “Why We Suck: A Feel-Good Guide to Staying Fat, Loud, Lazy and Stupid,” Denis Leary pushes the envelope too far when he blames “inattentive mothers” for autism and says that kids diagnosed with autism are “stupid” or “lazy.”

Likely, Denis Leary won’t be making too many friends with his take on autism. But he’s defnitely getting plenty of attention for his book.

Denis Leary, who stars on “Rescue Me” says in his book:

“There is a huge boom in autism right now because inattentive mothers and competitive dads want an explanation for why their dumb-ass kids can’t compete academically, so they throw money into the happy laps of shrinks . . . to get back diagnoses that help explain away the deficiencies of their junior morons. I don’t give a [bleep] what these crackerjack whack jobs tell you – yer kid is NOT autistic. He’s just stupid. Or lazy. Or both.”

Naturally, the Autism Society of America released a statement to set Denis Leary straight, saying:

“For Mr. Leary to suggest that families or doctors conspire to falsely diagnose autism is ridiculous . . . [His] remarks reflect the same misconceptions of autism being caused by bad or unemotional parenting that were held over 50 years ago.”