The 48-year-old actor has responded to backlash over a photo taken at a Halloween party he and his husband David Burtka threw in 2011, which included a meat platter labelled ’The Corpse of Amy Winehouse’.
NEIL Patrick Harris has apologised after a joke about the late singer Amy Winehouse resurfaced, sparking an outcry.
In 2011, the 48-year-old actor and his husband David Burtka threw a Halloween party which included a meat platter labelled “The Corpse of Amy Winehouse”.
The platter – which had ingredients including beef ribs, pulled pork, chicken sausage in a spicy BBQ sauce – was made up to resemble the late “Rehab” singer, who had died three months earlier.
On Monday, Harris said: “A photo recently resurfaced from a Halloween-themed party my husband and I hosted 11 years ago.
“It was regrettable then, and it remains regrettable now.
“Amy Winehouse was a once-in-a-generation talent and I’m sorry for any hurt this image caused.”
Last year, “The Big Bang Theory” star Mayim Bialik revealed that Harris stopped talking to her after she refused to give him a standing ovation following a performance of “Rent”.
Explaining that she isn’t a fan of musicals, she said: “I went to see ‘Rent’. I was friends with Neil Patrick Harris … this is a terrible story. I went to see ‘Rent’ … I was a teenager and I did not … it wasn’t my thing.
“But when your friend is in the play … and then everyone is clapping at the end and you say to your boyfriend next to you, ‘I don’t want to stand for this,’ and you look up and Neil Patrick Harris is looking right at you, it’s a bad day …
“Neil was fantastic, he’s amazing, but I just wasn’t into the, ‘Let’s give a standing ovation’, it wasn’t my thing, but that’s not a thing you say out loud, because Neil was reading my lips.”
Mayim admitted she went backstage after the show and the “How I Met Your Mother” star confronted her.
She added: “We were friends at the time … and he said, I kid you not, ‘Why did you say you weren’t gonna stand up?’
“I did not have a good answer …
“We didn’t speak for a long time. He says that he forgave me and he sent me flowers when he heard I was still carrying this terrible guilt.
“I mean, I feel terrible. It just wasn’t my thing.”
Harris responded on Twitter, and quipped: “Mayim Bialik and I have been friends for over 30 years. Her aversion to musical theatre isn’t going to change that …”
