MSNBC host offers tearful apology to Romneys
Updated 1:49 p.m., 1/4/2014
(CNN) - MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry made a tearful apology to Mitt Romney’s family on her show Saturday, after she and a panel poked fun at a photo of the former Republican presidential candidate with his wife and 21 grandchildren by zeroing in on his adopted African-American grandson.
"Whatever the intent was, the reality is that the segment proceeded in a way that was offensive, and showing the photo in that context, of that segment, was poor judgment. So without reservation or qualification, I apologize to the Romney family," said the anchor at the open of her show, "Melissa Harris-Perry."
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Harris-Perry became emotional as she went on to apologize to all "other families formed through transracial adoption," saying, "I am deeply sorry that we suggested that interracial families are in any way funny or deserving of ridicule."
She highlighted her own interracial background, as the daughter of an African-American man and a white Mormon woman. But, she said, families are always "off limits," and the Romneys' grandchildren should never have been a topic of discussion.
"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," she said.
Harris-Perry first apologized on Twitter and MSNBC's website Tuesday, offering a similar mea culpa "without reservation or qualification."
During the segment last Sunday, Harris-Perry asked a panel to come up with a caption for the Romney family photo, and two panelists made jokes about the infant standing out.
Actress Pia Glenn began singing lines from the song popularized by Sesame Street, "One of These Things Is Not Like the Others." Comedian Dean Obeidallah said the picture "really sums up the diversity of the Republican Party."
Obeidallah appears frequently on CNN and writes a regular opinion column for CNN.com.
Harris-Perry described the baby as "gorgeous" and joked that in 2040 he would marry North West, the daughter of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian.
"Can you imagine Mitt Romney and Kanye West as in-laws?" she said, to laughs.
Criticism was swift across social media, with prominent Republicans from Sarah Palin to former Sen. Scott Brown weighing in.
A spokeswoman for Romney told CNN he was on a family vacation this week and unavailable for comment. On Sunday, Romney will appear on “Fox News Sunday,” where he is likely to be asked about the episode.
MSNBC has been in some hot water recently after a handful of their hosts have made controversial comments. Alec Baldwin and the network parted ways in November after his homophobic outburst against photographers, and Martin Bashir resigned in December for his suggestion that Sarah Palin deserved graphic punishment for comparing U.S. foreign debt to slavery.
–CNN's Ashley Killough contributed to this report.
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I am glad she apologized in a personal way but it is hard to understand how someone with mixed heritage and
who even has a mother from the Mormon faith could make the comments in the first place. Some kind of disconnect
there but I'm not judging it. It's just hard to understand.
I don't like her in any way but at least she actually apologized. All the others that said much more offensive things never actually apologized or admitted wrong doing. What they said amounted to, "I'm sorry if someone was offended (not for actually offending them) but I still stand by my hate for everything Conservative and Republican. Stop looking at me, they're still the bad guys and they deserved this."
At least it was an apology, and a genuine one at that. FIre her, Don't fire her. It doesn't much matter, she's gonna be ok. What I care about is seeing our media shift into civil discourse. Set some standards and keep them.
Compare to the right's racist attacks on the President and his family, this really is nothing. Bad taste, maybe. Racist? Who can say?
Pathetic attempt at an apology, oh sure turn on the tear machine to save your worthless job.
Well, at least it wasn't as terribly horrible as the one who said something about lipstick.
You know, the old saying about "you can't put lipstick on a pig", meaning the same thing as a whited sepulchre, rot with pretty pasted over it.
It's a common phrase.
Therefore, since Sarah "Wind Whistles Through the Ears" Palin once said something about how she wore lipstick, quoting a common phrase was obiously a vicious personal attack against WindWhistles since she was a female.
Oh, wait a minute, quoting an ACTUALLY offensive common phrase, not just one twisted around into meaningless poutrage, was a vehemently defended exercise of free speech by a person on a nationally televised show, and it was a travesty to suggest that he ought to even consider apologizing, much less having any punitive action taken against him.
Not if the so-called 'person' is black, female, or liberal, of course, but if it's a REAL person......
Everybody lighten up. This is the best family to make fun of in any case; all surface, no substance, just like W.
She should be fired immediately, and to the liberals on here that are saying that the Romney family in some way adopted this baby because of his race are nuts. I can't believe someone on here actually said that they bought the baby. How in hell do you buy a baby,that's what these leftist liberal nuts think and it just does go to show you that cool-aid does kill brain cells.
This is all MSNBC can do ====> cry and lie !!! They need to have a balanced approach instead of being the mouth piece for our LYING President.
Mr. Romney's family is not deserving of ridicule.
Mr. Romney is the one deserving ridicule.
His family deserves our sympathy.
Liberals have been keeping the minorities in check by keeping them dependent... all for a vote
Fox spews vitriol constantly, especially toward our president and they NEVER have to apologize, what a joke!
I watch MSNBC but NEVER Melissa Harris-Perry. I don't like her. They'd be smart to just dump her & put someone else in her slot. She strikes me as very narrow minded & too far left. (And I've been a Dem for many years)
“On this program, we are dedicated to advocating for a wide diversity of families, it is one of our core principles."
This is what she said in apology but it is NOT true. MSNBC talks about equality and fairness but they don't believe in it. This is really a perfect example of how they treat all political discussion.
Looks like Romney is running for president again.
Liberalism is starting to implode.
The mainstream media culture nowadays has degenerated to the level of something you'd expect to see on a TMZ report. A "news channel" used to parrot a partisan political viewpoint isn't news, its propaganda but if you're going to hate on a political figure at least be decent enough to keep their kids out of the fight who have nothing to do with politics.
the question still remains -why is the baby boy wearing pink like the girls?
What is her motivation? Is she apologizing for herself, or for the pathetic organization who call themselves journalists? This was produced and approved by someone other than herself, I have my doubts about her sincerity. There's no doubt this will happen again to another conservative leader. The Romney family are righteous and the country and the world would be much different if we had a Romney Administration.
so why is Romney holding the baby and not the adoptive mom?
looks like a photo op
About time...
I applaud the Romney clan for strategically bringing a black kid into the family. I mean, their religion didn't even recognize blacks as equals until 1978 so he knew he needed a little help with his image. A brilliant political move for the future. Can't fault a black lady for drawing attention to the, uh, odd member of the family. The good news is that there are now 12 black Mormons in the USA. Boy what fun this kid is in for when his other 392 living relatives are all white. At least he's rich as hell. Go Romney clan!!! Yippeee!!!
I have little sympathy for a talking head who make millions!
Love these laughable libs who turn every new MSNBC debacle into a slam at Fox News. Get over it libbies, MSNBC staff is dropping like flies because they are complete and utter idiots.
wow nice photo op for sure
is he running for president again?