Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie has issued an apology over a joke posted on his Twitter account over the weekend.
The joke, which made reference to his own wife and that of former DUP leader and now Environment Minister Edwin Poots, was posted by the Upper Bann MLA on Saturday night.
But it was branded "misogynistic" by some Twitter users and later deleted.
Mr Beattie later tweeted: "Ok so my joke wasn’t to universal approval so as not to offend I deleted it."
He also clarified that the post was not written by him but had previously been sent to him.
Taking to Twitter on Sunday morning, Mr Beattie issued a full apology, saying: "Last night I posted a joke - I introduced it as a joke.
"It was an attempt at humour nothing more. In no way would I intentionally offend anyone but it’s clear I have so it is only right I apologise for doing so.
"We can all make mistakes, my choice of joke was a mistake," he added.
