Did Neil Patrick Harris actually have a cake made to resemble Amy Winehouse’s corpse? The Halloween controversy, explained

For some background, Harris and his husband David Burtka are notorious for throwing eye-catching Halloween parties and dressing up each year to share across their social media platforms for their fans to admire. However, a questionable decision back in October 2011 proved to be catastrophic for both of their legacies — especially when a trailblazing icon such as Winehouse is involved.

So with Winehouse’s 2024 biopic Back To Black releasing back in May, Harris and his distasteful Halloween prop are once again under fire — despite the incident happening over a decade ago.

So, did Harris actually have a cake made to resemble Winehouse’s corpse for Halloween?

Back in 2011, Harris and his husband quickly came under fire from the wrath of netizens online after Buzzfeed had initially reported that NPH had ordered a cake that resembled the corpse of Winehouse. And while it’s certainly true that Harris did have a Halloween prop that resembled Winehouse, it was actually a meat platter at his Halloween party instead of a cake. 

The meat platter resembling Winehouse’s corpse was inadvertently confirmed by Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s husband, Justin Mikita, who snapped a picture of the meat platter and shared it to Twitter while the two were attending the party. A mountain of backlash ensued almost immediately, especially with Winehouse having just passed away three months earlier after an accidental alcohol overdose.

Back in 2022, a viral tweet resurfaced the 2011 incident, including the tweet and photo, which can be viewed here. Caution: The photo is graphic.

Over 10 years later, the public has remained sour on NPH as a person — even despite the actor apologizing for the stunt in a 2022 article from EW.