CBS has been on the defensive this week as it deals with a simmering controversy surrounding the departures of two Asian-American actors from its police procedural show “Hawaii Five-0.”

The two stars, Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park, decided to leave the show after they were unable to agree to terms on new contracts — prompting speculation that they left because they would not be earning as much as their white co-stars.

On Thursday, for the second time in less than 24 hours, CBS and producers of the show were saying that they did everything they could to keep them. Peter M. Lenkov, an executive producer of “Hawaii Five-0,” said that CBS “was extremely generous and proactive in their renegotiation talks.”

“So much so, the actors were getting unprecedented raises, but in the end they chose to move on,” he said in a statement.