PETALING JAYA: Despite courting flak for a rape joke, actor Fauzi Nawawi (pic) has deleted his apology video from Instagram after it was posted on Tuesday (Oct 19) night.

       Instead, he sent a lengthy private Instagram message to Raja Farah Raja Aziz and her husband Ismail Iskandar on Thursday (Oct 21) that was sighted by The Star.

       Fauzi had apologised profusely to Raja Farah and her family in his private message, saying that the joke was made inadvertently while he was recounting a past experience during an interview.

       “This (joke) was intentionally publicised for certain reasons. I don’t care about being condemned, but I want to apologise sincerely to your family and your husband.

       “If it’s possible, I would like to also apologise in person with your husband.”

       Fauzi, when contacted by The Star, said he hoped the issue would be put to rest after this.

       “It’s enough... I’ve done my part, thank you for your concern.”

       In a cryptic Instagram post made on Wednesday (Oct 20), Fauzi also posted a veiled message, which is believed to be a dig towards his critics.

       The apology posted by Fauzi on Tuesday night was viewed over 176,000 times and comments were turned off.

       It was accompanied by the caption "Kesilapan Mmg pada Saya. Maafkan atas kekhilafan dan kejahilan Saya," (It is my mistake. Forgive me for my mistake and ignorance).

       In a recent interview, Fauzi shared about his experience where his character was supposed to rape Raja Farah's character in a scene from the 2007 film Anak Halal, which had been deleted from the movie.

       The discussion drew criticism from many Malaysians, who hit out at Fauzi for making such comments during a talk show.

       A couple of hours before Fauzi posted the video on Instagram, Raja Farah and her husband Ismail responded to the viral interview video, expressing their disappointment that Fauzi had made such comments.

       Noting that it was embarrassing, Ismail said that it was "unnecessary and awkward" to respond to the viral clip.

       Ismail said both he and Raja Farah expressed hope that people would also stop talking about the issue and move on from it.