Neil Patrick Harris apologises after 'corpse of Amy Winehouse' gag resurfaces

Neil Patrick Harris has issued an apology after his "corpse of Amy Winehouse" Halloween gag recently resurfaced online.

Back in 2011, Justin Mikita posted a photo to Twitter of a cake styled to resemble the singer's decaying corpse that was on display on a meat platter at the How I Met Your Mother actor and his husband David Burtka's Halloween party.

If any onlooker was confused, the disturbing offering was paired with a sign that read, "The Corpse of Amy Winehouse."

"Look who showed up @ActuallyNPH & @GourmetMD's Halloween party last night," wrote Mikita, adding: "Looking good."

The tweet has since been deleted.

Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning only a few months before Harris's Halloween party. She was 27.

After the photo resurfaced on social media this week, Harris responded to the backlash he received with a statement released to Entertainment Weekly.

"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," he said. "Amy Winehouse was a once-in-a-generation talent, and I'm sorry for any hurt this image caused."

Winehouse won five Grammy Awards for her 2006 album Back to Black.

And in 2015, a documentary on her life - titled Amy - landed the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.