Neil Patrick Harris answered the criticism of a picture that resurfaced from a Halloween party he threw 11 years ago. The picture showed a buffet platter that was made to look like Amy Winehouse’s dead body.
Winehouse died on July 23, 2011, at the age of 27. She was a jazz singer and songwriter who changed her style. A few months later, Harris and his husband, David Burtka, threw a party with a platter that had a fake dead body with a cigarette hanging out of its mouth and a note that said, “The Corpse of Amy Winehouse.” Under that, the note said, “The platter has beef ribs, pulled pork, and chicken sausage in a spicy BBQ sauce.”
In a statement to Entertainment Weekly on Monday, Harris said that the act was “regrettable then and it is still regrettable now.”
“A photo from a Halloween party my husband and I threw 11 years ago has recently come to light,” Harris said. “Amy Winehouse was one of a kind, and I’m sorry if this picture hurt anyone.”
The picture and the story about it came up again on Twitter last week. Many angry users replied and said what they thought about the platter, which some called “strange” and “cruel.”
The original picture was posted on Twitter by Justin Mikita, who is married to “Modern Family” actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson. He has since taken it down. A 2018 article on Jezebel also talked about the event. It has come up again and again over the years, but never to the point where Harris had to answer until Monday.
Harris is playing the Baker in the production of “Into the Woods” at the New York City Center. He is on stage with Sara Bareilles and Heather Headley.