Ellie Abraham
May 17, 2022
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Actor Neil Patrick Harris has apologised after making an insensitive joke about the deceased singer Amy Winehouse after a disturbing photo resurfaced on social media.
In July 2011, 27-year-old London native Winehouse died from alcohol poisoning after battling various addictions for many years.
In October of that year at a Halloween party hosted by Harris and his husband David Burtka, they served a disturbing food platter made to look like her decomposing corpse.
At the time, a picture of the display was tweeted and quickly deleted by Justin Mikita, the now husband of actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who were guests at the event.
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The tweet at the time read: “Look who showed up @ActuallyNPH & @GourmetMD’s Halloween party last night. Looking good.”
The tweet and image, shared by BuzzFeed, showed a gruesome corpse-like figure on a metal tray with Winehouse’s signature beehive hairstyle and a cigarette hanging out of its decomposing mouth.
Next to it was a sign that read: “The corpse of Amy Winehouse.”
11 years on from then and the image has resurfaced on social media, causing Harris to apologise for his tasteless joke.
In a statement passed to Entertainment Weekly, 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.”
Before her untimely death, the singer had released two critically-acclaimed albums – Frank in 2003 and Back To Black in 2006.
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