MUMBAI: A five minute tape delay during the Grammy Awards couldn't prevent CBS from landing in hot water yet again after the Janet Jackson Super Bowl episode. The broadcaster apologised to American Indians who took offence over Outkast's performance at the event on 9 February.

The group made a grand entrance to the sound of drums and smoke wafting from a tepee-shaped structure. Then dancers appeared and started dancing in skimpy, fringed costumes, braided hair and feathered head dresses. They were accompanied on stage by members of a university marching band.

A Reuters report indicated that the San Francisco-based Native American Cultural Center (NACC) had posted a notice on its Web site last week calling for a boycott of CBS, OutKast's label, Arista Records, and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which sponsors the Grammys. This prompted CBS to issue an apology on Friday.

An AP report added that the NACC filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission saying that the programme was racist in nature. American Indians across the US felt that the performance was disrespectful to their culture and also perpetuated tomahawk-and-teepee stereotypes. In fact the initial chant and drums is said to have given some people the impression that an American Indian group was about to perform. .