Martin Bashir and MSNBC continue to feel the heat for the host’s recent comments that Sarah Palin deserved to have someone defecate in her mouth. But Bashir’s comments, and his apology, echo a previous episode he had while working at ABC involving a female colleague.

Speaking at an Asian American Journalists Association gala in 2008, Bashir told the audience that he was “happy to be in the midst of so many Asian babes” and joked that he was glad he was behind a podium to cover his excitement. Later he said that a speech should be “like a dress on a beautiful woman — long enough to cover the important parts and short enough to keep your interest — like my colleague Juju’s,” referring to ABC correspondent Juju Chang. According to New York magazine, some audience members booed Bashir following those comments.

An ABC executive quickly condemned Bashir’s comments. “This kind of remark has no place in any setting and Martin knows that and is truly sorry for his serious error in judgment,” senior VP Jeffrey Schneider said. Chang called it a “ridiculous joke” and said that Bashir apologized for “his boorishness.”

Bashir did send an apology letter to Chang in the days following the gala. “Upon reflection, it was a tasteless remark that I now bitterly regret,” he said in his letter.

In his on-air apology to Palin last week, Bashir used similar wording as in his letter to Chang. “Upon reflection, I so wish that I’d been more thoughtful, more considerate, more compassionate,” he said, adding that “I deeply regret what I said.”

Via Deadline.