Neil Patrick Harris Apologizes for 2011 Joke Made at the Expense of Amy Winehouse Months After Her Death

“It was regrettable then, and it remains regrettable now,” the actor told Entertainment Weekly in a statement

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Neil Patrick Harris has apologized after photos resurfaced online of an off-color joke he made about singer Amy Winehouse just months after her untimely death.

In the photos, which were taken at a Halloween-themed party Harris and his husband David Burtka hosted in October 2011, a meat and cheese buffet “The Corpse of Amy Winehouse” was made up to look like a decomposing body.

The image was originally shared in a now-deleted tweet by Justin Mikita, Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s husband who was a guest at the party.

On Tuesday, the 48-year-old actor told Entertainment Weekly the attempt at humor was “regrettable.”

Harris said in his statement: “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.”

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Winehouse shot to fame in the early 2000s with hits soulful like “Rehab” and “Valerie.” Her July 2011 death was officially attributed to alcohol poisoning.

According to British coroner Suzanne Greenway, Winehouse’s “death by misadventure” was a result of her having nearly five times the legal limit of alcohol in her system when she passed.

Winehouse won five Grammy awards for her landmark 2008 album Back to Black and since her death at age 27 has widely been remembered as one of pop music’s greatest talents.