"How I Met Your Mother" was slapped for a racially insensitive episode that fed into negative Asian stereotypes. Twitter immediately blazed with charges that the "How I Met Your Mother" episode was racist. The creators of "How I Met Your Mother" apologized for what they saw  as an over-the-top Kung Fu homage, but many Asian-Americans aren't sure whether the showrunners really understand why they were offended.

The How I Met Your Mother creators issued a formal apology after the Twitter criticism. One person tweeted "Incredibly easy for white people to say 'that wasn't racist,' Not so easy for PoC" -- shorthand for people of color -- "to be marginalized their entire life."

Soya Jung wrote in Racefiles.com, "The underrepresentation of Asian Americans in film and television is bad enough without white performers exploiting warped, racist ideas about Asian cultures. The show's creators apologized, but it doesn't erase the cumulative damage of historic anti-Asian racism."

The "How I Met Your Mother" episode was called "Slapsgiving 3: Slappointment in Slapmarra," and it is a running gag on the show about ritually slapping around a good friend. Jason Segel's character, Marshall, went to China to train with three masters in the art of slapping. The masters were played by "How I Met Your Mother" cast members, Cobie Smulders, Josh Radnor and Alyson Hannigan, in stereotypical Asian costumes. The women wore chopsticks in their hair to keep it in place and Josh Radnor, who plays Ted, sported a Fu Manchu mustache.

Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, the creators of the sit-com How I Met Your Mother took to Twitter to say they thought "Slapsgiving 3: Slappointment in Slapmarra" showed their love of Kung Fu movies

The episode aired on CBS on Monday, January 13. Twitter was immediately flooded with outraged tweets about How I Met Your Mother's insensitivity. The hashtag #HowIMetYourRacism was an online trending topic within two days.

In a joint statement, Bays and Thomas wrote "Hey guys, sorry this took so long. @himymcraig and I want to say a few words about #HowIMetYourRacism. With Monday's episode, we set out to make a silly and unabashedly immature homage to Kung Fu movies, a genre we've always loved. But along the way we offended people. We're deeply sorry, and we're grateful to everyone who spoke up to make us aware of it. We try to make a show that's universal, that anyone can watch and enjoy. We fell short of that this week, and feel terrible about it. To everyone we offended, I hope we can regain your friendship, and end this series on a note of goodwill. Thanks. @CarterBays @HimymCraig."

How I Met Your Mother is in the middle of its last season. How I Met Your Mother will end its nine-season run on March 31. CBS is working on a How I Met Your Father spinoff.