Doherty sorry but booed out of Munich for Nazi song

Musician Pete Doherty performs during the Positivus music festival in Salacgriva, about 100 km (62 miles) from Riga in this July 17, 2009 file photo.

MUNICH, Germany (Reuters Life!) - British rocker Pete Doherty apologized on Monday after being booed off a stage in Munich for singing the Nazi anthem "Deutschland, Deutschland ueber alles."

Doherty, lead singer of Babyshambles, faced boos and jeers from a crowd at a music festival in Munich on Saturday organized by Bayerischer Rundfunk radio when he sang the song that was the Nazi national anthem during the concert broadcast live.

Doherty was asked to leave the stage by a moderator and he threw the microphone at her, according to a report in the Munich TZ newspaper on Monday. Radio station BR demanded an apology.

"He was unaware of the controversy surrounding the German national anthem and he deeply apologizes if he has caused any offence," Doherty's spokeswoman said in a statement published on the website of Sky News (news.sky.com/skynews/).

The national anthem has been used since 1922 but its first verse -- with the refrain "Deutschland, Deutschland ueber alles" -- was dropped after World War Two due its Nazi overtones. Since 1952, the third stanza has been used -- 'Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit' or 'unity and justice and freedom'.

(Writing by Erik Kirschbaum; editing by Jon Boyle)