Taiwan technology giant Foxconn has apologised over comments by chief Terry Gou allegedly comparing workers to animals, according to a report.

Gou drew criticism on online news forums and discussion sites after he was quoted by Taiwanese media as saying “I have a headache how to manage one million animals” at the company’s year-end party in Taipei Zoo earlier this month.

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Foxconn is the largest maker of computer components and assembles products for Apple — including the iPhone — plus Sony and Nokia. It employs about one million workers in China.

The company issued a statement over the weekend to apologise to “anyone who feels offended” but stressed that Gou’s remarks were taken out of context by the media, according to the Taipei-based Now News website.

“Gou is aware that the media reports are misleading and offensive and he apologises to anyone who feels offended. However, Gou did not deliberately slander the workers as some media described,” it quoted Foxconn as saying.

Foxconn was not immediately available for comment.