Back in 2011, Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka threw a party. The event would not have gone down in the annals of history except an image leaked from the Halloween-themed party of a buffet spread that was meant to look like Amy Winehouse’s corpse. Winehouse had died from alcohol poisoning at the age of 27 earlier that year. Now, years later, the How I Met Your Mother star has publicly apologized for the cake.
Why is a story like this resurfacing after more than a decade? Interest in Amy Winehouse has remained high over the years and, as often happens on the Internet, a viral tweet led to more tweets which led to more awareness of the part that happened back in 2011. In recent days NPH has been taking quite a bit of flack from the Internet for “The Corpse of Amy Winehouse” sign that had leaked from the party so many years ago, so he addressed the incident, apologizing for “any hurt” his actions have caused (via EW):
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.
At the time the party happened, Neil Patrick Harris was in the middle of a big moment thanks to the success of How I Met Your Mother, his CBS sitcom which began running in 2005 and had a memorable ending in 2014. Guests at the 2011 event were notable and included Jesse Tyler Ferguson's husband Justin Mikita, who allegedly took the photo of the platter of meats meant to resemble Amy Winehouse's dead corpse.
Her beehive hairdo and tattoos were both noticeable in the images, but even if they hadn't been, signage clearly showed the platter intended to mimic the late singer's corpse. A separate sign mentioned the platter included beef ribs, pulled pork, and chicken sausage in a spicy BBQ sauce.
Years later, the image resurfaced and had been blowing up online in a big way before Neil Patrick Harris ultimately apologized for the incident. The actor is currently promoting his upcoming Netflix series Uncoupled and has been taking some meat platter-related flack online from various social media users since the incident resurfaced, with an example below.
I can no longer enjoy a Series of Unfortunate Events on @netflix, and any of his further projects, because I just found out Neil Patrick Harris commissioned a cake of Amy Winehouse's corpse for a Halloween party. Sub human behavior. https://t.co/EVP6at6SlHMay 11, 2022
Uncoupled is from Emily in Paris and And Just Like That's Darren Star (who is no stranger to controversy) and Jeffrey Richman and won't be available streaming until later this summer, joining Netflix's schedule on July 29. Uncoupled already dealt with controversy over a character that was deemed "offensive" by an individual who had auditioned for the show. The character was later cut from the series.
