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Neil Patrick Harris apologizes for Amy Winehouse corpse decoration used in 2011 party

The decoration garnered backlash from social media users after images of it resurfaced.
Neil Patrick Harris appears on NBC's "TODAY" show on Jan. 13, 2017.
Neil Patrick Harris appears on NBC's "TODAY" show on Jan. 13, 2017.Nathan Congleton / TODAY

Actor Neil Patrick Harris apologized for a serving platter he had made to look like the corpse on Amy Winehouse in 2011 after images of the decoration resurfaced on social media.

Harris told Entertainment Weekly that his decision to include a platter that looked like Winehouse's corpse was "regrettable."

“A photo recently resurfaced from a Halloween-themed party my husband and I hosted 11 years ago,” Harris said in the 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.”

NBC News has reached out to Harris for comment.

Winehouse died at age 27 of alcohol poisoning in July of 2011, just months before Harris included the decoration at a Halloween party he threw with his husband David Burtka.

The image of the decoration, which appears to shows what Winehouse's decomposing corpse would look like, recently resurfaced on Twitter.

Although many called it an "Amy Winehouse cake," the decoration has a note, which reads "The Corpse of Amy Winehouse" and describes different meats in the platter.

As the image circulated on social media, users expressed disgust at the idea her death would be used as a joke.

One Twitter user wrote that the meat platter was "disturbing."

"I don’t care if it was 10 years ago, Neil Patrick Harris getting an “Amy Winehouse’s Corpse” meat platter 3 months after her tragic death is so disturbing," wrote user @justmeji. "That’s someone’s daughter, friend, loved one, and is undeniably her."

Another user suggested that society needed to reassess its treatment of Winehouse before and after her death.

“Society is way overdue for a discussion about the way Amy Winehouse was treated in the early 2000s and 2010s by the misogynistic celebrity media machine and the people who were a captive audience to it,” wrote user @ahabthepredator, who added that Harris’ “corpse cake is just the tip of the iceberg.”