Movie producers of box office hit "Barbershop" have been forced to apologise after a series of jokes about civil rights leaders appeared in the comedy flick.

Rappers Ice Cube and Eve star in the film, which attracted criticism after Cedric the Entertainer's character Eddie joked about the late Martin Luther King and Rosa Park - the black woman who famously refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in Alabama in 1955.

Reverend Jesse Jackson was offended by the comments and publicly asked for an apology. Producers Bob Teitel and George Tillman have apologised to the former presidential candidate.

Tillman says, "I completely did not mean to offend anyone. We wanted one individual in the shop saying something funny and we wanted everyone to disagree with that person."

However Jackson remains upset and has spoken to Luther King's widow Coretta Scott King and Parks' family, who were reportedly "highly insulted" by the mockery.