'Do I regret it? No’: AirAsia’s Tony Fernandes discusses viral topless LinkedIn post

AirAsia founder and CEO Tony Fernandes says he does not regret the viral LinkedIn post that showed him receiving a massage during a meeting — and that transparency is worth potential controversy.

The Malaysian businessman is known for an unfiltered approach to posting on social media. He does not get his posts vetted by his PR team and wants to keep it that way, he told CNBC in a wide-ranging interview last month.

"I am transparent, and social media allows me to be very transparent. It has a disadvantage, that people will misrepresent and misunderstand Tony Fernandes the persona," he said.

Recent widely-shared posts have seen Fernandes jokily tell off a passenger for bringing food onto a flight, against the budget airline's policy. He also generated some skepticism after stating that he had been forced to fly with rival Singapore Airlines because AirAsia flights were full.

But by far the strongest reaction to a social media post by Fernandes came in October, when the businessman shared a photograph of himself shirtless in the office.

"Got to love Indonesia and AirAsia culture that I can have a massage and do a management meeting," the post read, prompting a slew of comments and media coverage.

Fernandes told CNBC: "My famous topless sports massage was all about showing our culture, to be honest, that we had such a flexible culture. Of course, I got permission from everyone in the room to say, are you okay?"

"Initially I asked whether we could delay the meeting so that I could have a massage, I was in a lot of pain from a lot of flying. But the team said, we're okay, you know, nothing to hide. We'd rather not delay it. So I was actually posting to say, what an amazing culture we have."

However, the message got twisted and