A Canadian journalist has apologized after tweeting a racist joke regarding the novel coronavirus (or also known as 2019-nCoV).

Peter Akman, an investigative journalist for CTV W5, took heat after making the joke on Twitter about the ongoing coronavirus outbreak in China.

There is no possible way this should be acceptable. #cdnmedia pic.twitter.com/vcQliVrYmL — Alexander Quon (@AlexanderQuon) January 26, 2020

“Hopefully ALL I got today was a haircut,” he said followed by the hashtags #CoronaOutbreak and #Coronavirustoronto.

After the tweet went viral, many people expressed their anger towards the journalist on Twitter.

Apologize to your barber. A journalist should know better the effect of inflammatory cheap shots at your target/subject/object — Liz RainbowTravel (@LesbianTravel) January 27, 2020

Hi @peterakman, Please check your privilege as you walk out of the door of your (former) job. Because @ctvw5 @ctvtoronto @ctv_pr

should fire your ass. Your pig-faced snark is more disgusting than any supervirus in human history. Sincerely,

-All Chinese-Canadians https://t.co/gd9qxMh2dY — Ronnie 🍜🐉 (@RonnieNoodles) January 26, 2020

Typical white privilege thinking a apology absolves you of any consequences. What you said was straight up racist & you should be fired. Don’t just move on thinking no damage has been done, face your shit & deal with your racism. Oh & screenshots exist of your deleted tweet. pic.twitter.com/5QjcmtlCN8 — Skyanna ⚧🦋🖖 (@Skyannaleaf) January 27, 2020

Akman later took down the original tweet and attempted to fix the situation, but failed to address the accusations of racism.

“My tweet earlier today was insensitive,” he said in his tweet. “My barber told me he was offering everyone masks. I apologize for any offense I may have caused.”

My tweet earlier today was insensitive. My barber told me he was offering everyone masks. I apologize for any offence I may have caused. — Peter Akman (@PeterAkman) January 26, 2020

Feature Image via @PeterAkman