Singaporean Mediacorp’s Channel 5 has apologised for what it admits to be “offensive” references made against Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak in an episode of its ‘Ok Chope!’ programme.

"Channel 5 and the production team behind OK Chope! wish to sincerely apologise to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak for a segment on last week’s episode,” Mediacorp’s chief customer officer Debra Soon said in a statement today.

“Last week's episode included references to the Malaysian prime minister which were in poor taste and offensive.

“We have thus pulled it from repeat telecast with immediate effect. We apologise unreservedly for this mistake.”

Mediacorp’s Channel 5 had aired the episode in question on March 29. In the episode, a panel of comedians was asked to complete the headline of a news story involving Najib...