Saturday Night Card Game (Melissa Harris-Perry apologizes again)
She’s sorry, so sorry
It’s been a long week for Melissa Harris-Perry.
The MSNBC host took a lot of heat for this segment on her show last weekend in which she moderated a panel of comedians in offering a caption to a Romney family photo that featured Governor Romney holding his adopted grandson, Kieran, who is black.
The segment devolved into senseless mocking – as Professor Jacobson previously noted, “To the race-obsessed minds at MSNBC, the fact that Mitt Romney’s son and daughter-in-law adopted a black child is something to mock.”
Backlash ensued and Melissa Harris-Perry later apologized online in a series of tweets.
On her program today, Harris-Perry again made an apology for that segment, while fighting back tears. Below is an excerpt from that apology. Video is after the jump.
Now given my own family history, I identify with that picture and I intended to say positive and celebratory things about it, but whatever the intent was, the reality is that the segment proceeded in a way that was offensive. And showing the photo in that context, that segment, was poor judgment.
So without reservation or qualification, I apologize to the Romney family. Adults who enter into public life implicitly consent to having less privacy. But their families, and especially their children, should not be treated callously or thoughtlessly. My intention was not malicious, but I broke the ground rule that families are off-limits, and for that I am sorry.
Also, allow me to apologize to other families formed through transracial adoption, because I am deeply sorry that we suggested that interracial families are in any way funny or deserving of ridicule. On this program we are dedicated to advocating for a wide diversity of families. It is one of our core principles, and I am reminded that when we are doing so, it must always be with the utmost respect.
(h/t to Newsbusters for the transcript; and to TheRightScoop for staying on the story)
I honestly don’t have that much to add to what Professor Jacobson has already said in his prior post on the matter. Maybe some of today’s apology from Harris-Perry was sincere, I don’t know, but the fact that the incident happened in the first place was never that surprising. We’ve come to expect such things from MSNBC, as has been documented at this blog on numerous occasions.
I guess I take some small solace from the fact that I have the freedom to change the channel. But that of course is not going to change MSNBC.
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Comments
She was eloquent, and the end of the apology was especially heartfelt. Maybe she’ll find a better home at Fox.
She’s a fake, scared of the damage this could do to her career. She showed her hand. She showed us what she really was. Her apology was only swallowed by fools.
If there is any sincerity in her apology it is perhaps because it did hit too close to home and offended a family member. Her claims that it was not intended to be malicious are false. If she was trying to be nice, she, as the host and moderator, would have taken control of the situation before it became so vile or had it cleaned up in editing. She is only sorry she got caught in her racism and hypocrisy, and maybe because someone in her family was upset. I guess it’s a good thing that her child belongs to the collective, because maybe then her daughter will have so many parents that she’ll learn some sense.
She’s a racist. It’s possible her parents slapped her back. Had she not had a history of this kind of commentary, her apology would’ve been more credible.
“It’s possible her parents slapped her back.”
You betcha!
If I were her mother, her daddy and I’d be right behind her back as she said that apology. Then, everyone would know where those tears come from!
Romney’s children can take it – they campaigned & even equalled their campaign service as equitable to military service.
This is about the Grandchild . OK JIMMY has a grandson who is thinking he should be Governor of Georgia . But we might give the babies a break .At least until they grow up to be annoying.
Provide a link demonstrating that Romney’s children “equalled” campaigning to military service.
I know libs who equated their follies in the Peace Corps to military service.
Yes, I even know white sluts who slept with some black pseudo-intellectuals with the off-spring of that union calling themselves ‘black’. Right Barack? Right Missy? It’s strange how Obama and Harris-Perry have similar backgrounds.
You’re calling their mothers “sluts”? Seriously? Wow, way to go.
Sorry Amy but it is true. Stanley was so named because Daddy wanted a boy. She never quite got over being deemed lesser by her own father. So rebelliousness became her lifestyle. Anything to get back at Daddy. What better way than to have sex with black guys, knowing that Daddy didn’t like blacks. Maybe even hated them – we don’t know because Barry Bigears won’t talk about it (you do remember the typical white woman comment, right?).
Stanley was exactly what David called her.
Amy, there are some pics of Obama’s mother out there…. I’ve seen them. You wouldn’t want the world to see your mom like that.
I despise Obama more than I have ever despised anyone in my life…but he is not responsible for his mother or her actions. If anything, he was the only one harmed by them.
So while I don’t think attacking his mother’s sexual failings contributes to the discussion, I will say that Harris Perry’s mother is probably a stupid-@ss lib who raised her while apologizing for being white. If her mother had been a conservative, MHP would probably have grown up liking herself and would never have been inflicted on the viewing public.
The report date posted below.
In other words, “I don’t have a link, I’m just trying to spread propaganda.”
i neither go to links or provide direct links . i posted the details where it could be found further down the thread.
There are several other available sources . it was quite well reported at the time & brought up again with Ann Romney on the View 5 years later.
You imply that primary sources are unnecessary but without them, you’re opinion is meaningless.
Wasn’t there a rumor that NBC was looking to cut high paid staff in DC? Maybe it isn’t just DC. Few things gets sincerity and tears going for poor performers like downsizing.
“Sincerity – if you can fake that, you’ve got it made.” –George Burns
Since 1980, faking sincerity has been the only way a Democrat can win. Al Gore and John F. Kerry couldn’t fake it and they lost.
“Since 1980, faking sincerity has been the only way a Democrat can win.”
OMG, faking election results has been the only way a democrat can win.
We are SO up against it, will we be able to re-claim our Republic? Establishment republicans and democrats, their lobbyist support groups, the media, public sector employees, the professional entitlement class, AND election fraud. They want us to get to work so that they can skim as much of our earning as they see fit.
They also want us to SD and STFU.
MHP has worked for The Nation for a long time. While the TV apology was classy she is committed to the demonization of the GOP and anyone who opposes the Progressive agenda. She has a history and a sincere emotional moment won’t change her outlook.
The “only” acceptable apology from such a hate-monger is to resign from all media for life and to live with the poorest of the poor in Bangledesh.
What do you have against the poor in Bangladesh?
LOL
Good one Platypus!
There really is something wrong at MSNBC. Their heads are on a different planet.
When the show’s host, all the panelists, and all the people behind the cameras see nothing wrong happening as it happens, despite it being so obviously vile, yes, there is something wrong at MSNBC. This is made doubly worse by the extreme likelihood that at least some of them *did* recognize the vileness and did it anyway.
When in doubt, look for the base explanation. This was a ploy for ratings by a unwatched host on an unwatched show on a moribund network, nothing more. The repeated ‘apologies’ are merely milking it.
Yes.
And if these a-holes weren’t vested in being pointlessly and gratuitously snotty (because they have nothing substantive going for their position) the Bashirs and Harris-Perrys of this world wouldn’t be “accidentally” finding themselves in need of making apologies.
I’ve never been on TV, but I’ve been on radio many times (NPR, ugh), and the preparations for even a one minute spot are considerable. A lot of people spent a lot of time setting up this bit on MSNBC, as they do with every bit. There is no way the vileness of it wasn’t pointed out – and overruled. No way. This makes any ‘apologies’ null and void. Her only sorrow is that even liberals were disgusted by it, that it hurt viewership, that is, hurt ratings, that is, hurt their bottom line, which is MONEY.
MSNBC employees:
“I vas just following orders. Ja ja.”
Their heads are definitely not like ours. Did you look at the size of MHP’s head?!?! Definitely a different planet!
Planet Uranus, I’m thinking…
So this is the third apology from her over the incident. Wonder why she felt she had to do this again?
I suspect something is happening below the surface of MSNBC.
Reorganization at NBC/MSNBC is ongoing. Heads are rolling. The apologies will continue until complaining viewer emails stop and until the temporary ratings spike flattens back out. $$$
Meant to add: They’ll never air the fact, but you can be sure a lot of NBC/MSNBC advertisers were also disgusted by this. The apologies will continue until they are mollified as well. $$$
NBC has been bumping along on the bottom, pulling in at 5th place behind Univision in the ratings, I guess you know.
She is a hate-filled racist and a communist. The fact that she seeks to destroy those who disagree with her is just how the left rolls.
She needs to return to wearing tampons in her ears – her brains are leaking out.
What a stupid woman.
Just to be clear: she doesn’t object to black men making and abandoning children, but she does object to white men adopting those children and giving them love. Cause….I guess….. that’s….racist and stuff…
You must have a very poor memory . NYT Caucus Blogs August 8 2007 . Cedar Rapids Iowa.
There is never going to be a movie -Saving Private Romney .They have stretched it over 130 years & i will bet $6.23 that none of these kids are going in either.
Not surprising there are so many Romneys. Noone ever said they were stupid.
and you have poor comprehension skills. There was no equivalence made except by those who obtusely did so.
My memory’s fine – I remembered that Romney did NOT equate his sons’ campaigning to military service. He said there are a number of ways to support America and one of the ways his sons were doing it was by campaigning for him. He never “equalled” campaigning to military service and even the selective quotations pimped by the NYT and thinkprogress don’t show that he did.
I did the search on the subject, which took all of a couple of minutes. You refused provide a link because a link would show that your accusation was false.
Everyone here understands what you were trying to do.
She’s sorry alright. She is the current poster child for the nasty, offensive and coarse culture cultivated at MSNBC.
Ho Ho Ho, Hey Hey Hey, NBC-MSNBC can not stay!
The above to old Smokey.
To David Yotham_ Yes Ann Dunham was hot to trot but it was relaxed Hawaii & polka dot 2 pieces & hula hoops & beach parties.. Girls did get bedded & wedded pretty young across America though very few of them graduated HS let alone college .
Girls didn’t take the kind of pics that Stanley Anne tau ham let Frank Marshall Davis take of her.
You have never met her & only seen a few family photos & some blurry old nudie pics & do not even know how to spell her name .
Yet you so know it IS her.
More than silly , this is stupid.
The ones in the bondage magazine are pretty clear.
Estragon – i hope you only read them for the articles.
You don’t know me, you don’t know what I saw but you can tell me what I saw and the quality of the photo which I saw. That is truly impressive, Banned. Telepathically impressive. Perhaps you can tell me the winning numbers for the next several hundred million mega bucks lotto.
ouch! That is going to leave a mark!
I cannot imagine the shame her parents must feel. To have raised such a self-loathing bigot as this woman has become would be difficult to bear. I would lay awake each night trying to figure out where I went wrong, and how I had failed my daughter, were she to evince such attitudes or work for such a loathsome entity as MSNBC. You open your home and your heart only to find that the child whom you tried to rescue, and provide for, dedicates her life to aggravating racial issues and spreading hate. I think she has some apologies to make to her family off the air in addition to the ones she made on the air.
You are projecting your own reactions on to unknown people.
Harris -Perry is about 40 & nothing to do with her parents.
She is a race hustler, nothing more. I believe she and Obama do not consider themselves black and early on decided to use the color of their skin for self promotion, and they need a racist society to serve that end.
Sorry, that’s not an apology, really.
She may have become upset after offending her own family, which led to the “upgraded” apology on air. But nothing in the statement demonstrates she understands, much regrets, the real offense.
“I broke the ground rule that families are off-limits, and for that I am sorry.”
Odd, since it was the entire point of her bringing out the picture in the first place, wasn’t it? But it misses the real offense, which is accusing Republicans of racism for not having more blacks in the party or the family.
And this is even worse
“. . . I am deeply sorry that we suggested that interracial families are in any way funny or deserving of ridicule. On this program we are dedicated to advocating for a wide diversity of families. It is one of our core principles, and I am reminded that when we are doing so, it must always be with the utmost respect.”
She’s not sorry, once again, for accusing the Romneys of racism, she is sorry for not “celebrating diversity” with her whole being.
Come on! Give me a freaking break!
It is more subtle than the typical Democrats’ First Apology which usually goes “I am sorry if my statements were so misunderstood by you idiots that you took offense in your tiny little brains, and I honestly regret that you are that stupid.” (Individual wording varies and is often less direct). But it isn’t apologizing for calling Romney a racist.
No one really thought the MSNBC panel or Harris-Perry cares a whit about Romney’s family, they were just a tool to mock him with false accusations and insinuations.
If Harris-Perry were to honestly apologize for doing THAT, and also for doing it to everyone else to whom she does the same, she would have time for little else during her limited air time.
Key words from her “apology”: “I am reminded….”
Someone forced her to make that “apology.”
Melissa Harris-Perry is totally Un-professional.
She’s a liar, and she’s still lying in the “apology.”
The parent company NBC needs to have its broadcasting license revoked. Guess we have to start with the local affliates first.
The apology is complete with repentance – never playing the race card again.
At the heart of the Perry-Bashir-Baldwin-MSNBC pathology is to play the race/hate/dominant card to get respect within one’s peer group first and foremost and then to gain power over one’s “lesser.”
This behavior is the same behavior junior high bullies use on the playground when no one is watching.
Quite right, if she were at all sincere in apologizing, that behavior would not recur.
I give it a week.
Someone made the observation of the vetting process before ANYTHING gets broadcasted. Absolutely true…….these vile vermin knew EXACTLY what they were doing. It is all about the dollar bill, yo. Please excuse the vernacular, I felt it fitting for a discussion of MSNBC.
Everything gets run past a lawyer as well as producers, etc. Standard practice in major media.
Problem though is that what she said was probably not illegal, just nasty, bigoted, and in extremely bad taste. What could the Romney’s sue for? After all, as a recent Presidential,Mitt is a public figure, and anything published against him requires actual malice for defamation. Even without that, there wouldn’t have been defamation in what aired. This wasn’t a bad legal decision, but, in the end, a bad business decision.
Not suggesting a lawsuit. I was identifying yet another employee type – attorney – that has pre-knowledge of the content of these MSNBC stories, that they are never spontaneous or off the cuff, and also did not see a reason to stop its airing. Show’s host, panel members, producers, executives, attorney, support staff and gophers, cameramen, techs, etc. Still it went to air.
If her intent was anything other than to make fun of it, why was this photo even included in her so called “look back in laughter” program.
Just sayin’