Neil Patrick Harris is apologizing for mocking Amy Winehouse soon after her death.
A resurfaced image from the How I Met Your Mother star’s 2011 Halloween party — at which a meat platter dish inspired by the “Rehab” singer’s corpse was served — has stirred up controversy, leading to the actor issuing a public apology.
“A photo recently resurfaced from a Halloween-themed party my husband [David Burtka] and I hosted 11 years ago,” Harris told Entertainment Weekly in a statement. “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.”
An image of the dish can be seen here, but — warning — it is graphic.
The British songstress had a very public battle with addiction — in the era in which entertainment news coverage was especially toxic and she was openly mocked on blogs — before she died from alcohol poisoning on July 23, 2011. She was just 27.
Three months later, Harris — who’s known for big Halloween celebrations — threw a party with Burtka that that included a very graphic buffet platter made up to look like “The Corpse of Amy Winehouse” with ingredients listed as “beef ribs, pulled pork, chicken sausage in a spicy BBQ sauce.” Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson and his husband, Justin Mikita, were guests, and Justin shared a photo of the dish to social media before deleting it.
Harris didn’t address it at the time and the topic faded — until recently. Over 10 years later, a photo of the party dish was resurfaced on social media and a new audience was made aware of Harris’s past choice. It has also led to other things Harris has done being resurfaced and reanalyzed, including shading Rachel Bloom in 2018. And, now, it’s also led to his apology.
