A Thai newscaster was brought by his executives to Turkish Embassy in Thailand to apologise for calling Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a dictator on live television, Thai News reported on Friday.

Peerapol “Champ” Euariyakul was reporting about Turkish-German football player Mesut Özil, when he made the comments about President Erdoğan. Özil quit the German national team on Sunday after being criticised in Germany for meeting President Erdoğan,

“You’re the leader of Turkey but everyone worldwide is stepping on you because you’re such a dictator. You made laws to keep yourself in power for 14 years,” Peerapol said on Digital TV 28.

“The five things you will hear the most when talking about Recep Tayyip Ergodan are ‘dictator,’ ‘election fraud,’ ‘not listening to citizens,’ ‘getting rid of the opposition in any way possible,’ and ‘the leader that jails the most journalists,’” Peerapol added.

A local religious group called Muslim Foundation for Peace protested the program and Peerapol was suspended by the television channel’s executives as a result. The executives also took Peerapol to apologise personally to Turkish Ambassador Evren Dağdelen Akgün.