An outspoken New Zealand television presenter has been forced to apologise for describing Susan Boyle as "retarded" during his morning show.
In November Paul Henry, a breakfast show host on Television New Zealand, had laughed as he read a magazine article which mentioned that the Scottish singing star was starved of oxygen at birth and suffered a mild intellectual disability.
"Here's the really interesting revelation — she is in fact retarded," he said. "And if you look at her carefully, you can make it out."
After his employer upheld complaints about his comments, Mr Henry said: "It upsets me greatly that anyone would imagine I had intended to cause offence or hurt over this or any issue. I am sorry that some people have taken what I said in a way that I never intended," he added in a statement.
His tasteless comments about Ms Boyle, whose debut album I Dreamed a Dream went straight to No 1 last month, provoked a flood of complaints to New Zealand's Human Rights Commission.
David Rutherford, the chairman of Special Olympics New Zealand said using "retard" to describe intellectually disabled people was as hurtful as racial slurs such as "nigger" and "kike".
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