Channel 4 News has apologised after airing a clip of Robin Williams in Good Morning Vietnam saying: "Get a rope and hang me", a day after the star's suspected suicide.

The 63-year-old actor was found dead in his California home on Monday and a preliminary coroner's report indicated the likely cause of death to be suicide by asphyxia.

Channel 4 News ran a report about the actor's death on Tuesday evening which included a clip from Good Morning Vietnam, the 1987 film in which Williams played a larger-than-life DJ on Armed Forces radio.

In the clip Williams's character says: "Why don't they get a rope and hang me?"

Channel 4 came in for criticism for the gaffe. Trish Bertram, an announcer at the London 2012 Olympics and former LWT executive, said on Twitter: "Slightly unfortunate choice of Robin William's Good Morning Vietnam clip by @Channel4News for their closing tribute".

Peter Pulford tweeted that the decision to use the clip was "a bit tasteless", while @LindyLaQueen said: "So C4 news could have picked ANY Robin Williams clip but they picked the one from GMV where he says "grab a rope and hang me" Just really?"

Channel 4 News, which altered the tribute in the one-hour time-shifted broadcast of the news programme, subsequently apologised on Twitter.

"We'd like to apologise for including what was an inappropriate line from Good Morning Vietnam in our play-out from tonight's programme," the broadcaster said. "There was no offence intended in what was meant to be a heartfelt tribute to Robin Williams."

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email media@theguardian.com or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

• To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook.