The Professional Footballers Association has have described their dismay at Reginald D Hunter's comedy act during Sunday's award ceremony.
It is customary for a comic to perform at the end of season dinner but Hunter, a black American comedian, caused controversy for several uses of racial slurs, and making jokes about Luis Suarez's race row.
His performance drew criticism from PFA chairman Clarke Carlisle who described it as a "huge mistake" to book the comic for the event.
"The PFA regrets the offence caused by the performance of Reginald D Hunter at last night's awards's ceremony in London," the statement reads.
"We share the strong disappointment felt by our diverse membership at the choice of language throughout his appearance. We would like to make it clear that we feel any use of such language is wholly inappropriate.
"He was booked on the basis of his recent television appearances however clearly his performance last night was of a very different nature. Whilst we are not generally made aware of the material a comedian intends on doing, it is clear that the language used was unacceptable."
The PFA stated that Hunter was aware of the audience he would be playing to and ignored requests to avoid bad language and racial terminology.
"In a conference call with Reginald and three members of the London Speakers Bureau through which he was recruited, it was outlined the make-up of our audience which would be widely diverse including around 25 percent of women and ages ranging from 18 to 80," the statement continued.
"It was made absolutely clear that swearing or any racist references were to be avoided. Therefore we were totally dismayed that the performance was the exact opposite of our requirements.
"Finally, we would not like this incident to detract from the huge efforts put in by the PFA and other stakeholders in the game in anti-racism initiatives and we take this opportunity to underline our commitment in this area."
