Wendy Williams, a TV anchor, has apologized for mocking Joaquin Phoenix’s scar.

The daytime talk show presenter enraged several parents and activists after previous comments she made about a scar on actor Joaquin Phoenix’s lip.

During the “Hot Topic” segment on January 7, Williams said she thought the Joker star was “oddly attractive,” adding that she admired the actor’s scar.

“When he shaves off his mustache, he’s got a hairline fracture, he’s got one of those — what do you call it? Cleft lip, cleft palate,” she told the audience, pulling her lip up in mockery of the condition.

A cleft palate forms when pieces of a baby’s face do not fuse together properly during development in the womb.

Several people, including Canadian football star Adam Bighill, chastised Williams on social media and constantly demanded that she apologize.

Bighill and his son both have bilateral cleft lip and palates, which his four-month-old underwent surgery for on Wednesday.

“Today is Beau’s big day. He is getting his lip repaired today in Winnipeg by the fantastic Dr. Ross,” Bighill wrote. “Thanks to everyone who has reached out, and in advance, thanks for any of your well wishes for Beau. He is so loved!”

Williams has now apologized “to the cleft community” for her comments and said that the show will donate to two charities that help people with the condition.

“.@Bighill44 We’re thinking about Beau today as he is in surgery,” Williams wrote.

“I want to apologise to the cleft community and in Beau’s honour, our show is donating to @operationsmile and @AmerCleftPalate and encourage our Wendy Watchers to learn more and help support the cleft community.”

While Bighill expressed gratitude for Williams’ apology, Cher was adamant that Williams not be let off the hook. Williams “should be fired,” the icon tweeted, with a screenshot of Williams holding up her lip and asking whether an apology is enough to make up for the contentious move.

“BEFORE THEIR TEENS MUCH OF THE TIME THEY ARE IN PAIN, AFRAID, BUT HAVE HOPE THEY WILL LOOK NORMAL. THE FEAR THEIR PARENTS GO THROUGH IS UNBEARABLE.

“IF YOUR MUM SAW WHAT YOU DID SHE’D BE ASHAMED. MY MUM TAUGHT ME TO LOVE & HELP PPL IN PAIN. WHO ARE U, U SHOULD B FIRED. [sic]”

Cher then reminded Williams about the difficulties that persons with clef palates face in a second tweet.

“THEY GO THROUGH HELL, THEIR PARENTS. GO THROUGH HELL. F**k Her Apology [sic]” the singer wrote.

“An apology on Twitter really isn’t enough,” the Cleft Lip and Palate Association remarked.

“She did this on her show with millions upon millions of people watching,” the association’s spokesperson Anna Martindale told BBC News. “I think she needs to apologise on her show as well.”

Phoenix has never revealed whether or not he was born with a cleft lip or palate.

In a Vanity Fair profile published in October, it was reported that his lip scar was “not a surgically fixed cleft, he says, but a nonsurgical scar he was born with.”