US comic Stephen Colbert apologises, says 'racist' tweet lacked context

In his first night on the air since a campaign to #CancelColbert erupted on Twitter, Stephen Colbert responded to charges of racial insensitivity to Asians.

The controversy began last Thursday when The Colbert Report's Twitter account quoted a joke from the March 26 episode of the show that mocked Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder for setting up a charity to aid native Americans in lieu of changing his team's name. Colbert said he was inspired by Snyder to start his own charity, called "The Ching-Chong Ding-Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever."

Out of context, however, some Twitter users thought the joke was offensive to Asian Americans, and within hours #CancelColbert was a top trending subject on the website.

Colbert humorously referred to the controversy on his personal Twitter account, StephenAtHome but waited until Monday night to issue a full response.

Colbert explained that the joke originated in a segment about Snyder's charity that was rebroadcast multiple times last Thursday without incident. It was only when his show's promotional Twitter account repeated the joke, without a link to the segment or a mention of Snyder's charity that a backlash ensued.

"Who would have thought a means of communication limited to 140 characters would ever create misunderstandings?" Colbert said.