Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton apologises for sexist comments

Carolina Panthers NFL quarterback Cam Newton, who had already lost a sponsor for a degrading comment he made to a female reporter, apologised for the incident late on Thursday.

Newton was dropped by sponsor Dannon for the incident when he was asked a question by reporter Jourdan Rodrigue of the Charlotte Observer and smirked before saying: "it's funny to hear a female talk about routes."

He later used Twitter to post a video apology.

"After careful thought, I understand that my word choice was extremely degrading and disrespectful to women," Newton said. "If you are a person who took offence to what I said, I sincerely apologise to you.

"I'm a father to two beautiful daughters, and at their age I try to instil in them that they can do and be anything that they want to be.

"During this whole process I've already lost sponsors and countless fans, I realise that the joke was really on me. And I've learned a valuable lesson from this."