DUP leader Arlene Foster is coming under pressure to censure Gregory Campbell after he refused to apologise for criticising the ethnic make-up of a Songs of Praise judging panel.
The outspoken MP faced criticism after describing an episode of the programme featuring the Gospel Singer of the Year competition as "the BBC at its BLM (Black Lives Matter) worst".
Mr Campbell was urged to apologise for the comments and there was an expectation that he would concede that they were not appropriate.
In the assembly yesterday afternoon, his party leader said her colleague's observation was "not a sentiment" she identified with, while DUP MLA Mervyn Storey said he would not have made similar remarks.
But an unrepentant Mr Campbell dismissed the criticism as a "contrived controversy" and refused to apologise.
He said the all-Black line-up of the Songs of Praise judging panel did not reflect the "diversity or inclusion" that the BBC was committed to.
"There wasn't a single critical comment for five and a half days after I put that up on my public page on Facebook, not a single critical comment until Saturday, then on Saturday there was this contrived controversy which has escalated over the weekend into the vilest of abuse," he told the BBC.
He denied an accusation of "race-baiting" and insisted his remarks were reasonable.
"Why would I apologise for something that is correct and accurate? No, I don't apologise," he said.
The East Derry MP said he was a long-standing anti-racist.
"Of all the things I have been criticised and lambasted for down through the years, it has never been on the basis of racism because people who know me know I am not, and the post proves that I am not," he said.
But his failure to apologise and acknowledge the comments may have caused offence has prompted further criticism and calls for his party to intervene.
SDLP MLA Cara Hunter said Mr Campbell's defence of his comments "adds insult to injury".
She welcomed Mrs Foster's statement in which the DUP leader said her party was "totally, absolutely committed to racial equality".
"It is welcome that she took the chance to do so, but these words ring hollow if she does not act to rein in Gregory Campbell – I urge her to do so," Ms Hunter said.
Alliance MP Stephen Farry said the remarks had prompted a "real sense of revulsion across Northern Ireland".
"They cannot go unchallenged and until the DUP leadership, particularly the first minister, takes action regarding them and Gregory Campbell, it is a sentiment she and they will be identified with," he said.
Mr Farry said he had written to Westminster's standards watchdog regarding the comments.
"Every other party in the UK would have taken disciplinary measures already in these circumstances," he said.
