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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Oh, the delicious irony of it all.
The right-wingers who sneer and rant about political correctness now have THEIR panties in a giant wad over something said on a liberal program that wasn't very politically correct.
The comments made on Harris-Perry's show were politically motivated, not racist. Were they politically incorrect? Sure. But they weren't made with malice.
The same cannot be said about many, many comments made by Limbaugh, Coulter, O'Reilly, Beck, Malkin, etc. Ann Coulter said incredibly hostile things about the surviving family members of 9/11 victims and she's not only never apologized for it – she ramped up the rhetoric to generate more book sales.
The hypocrisy of the right would be laughable if it weren't so dangerous.
Nice MSNBC staff apologize when they make an in appropriate comment. Would be nice if all the FOX News staff would apologize for all the cruel, mean spirited and untrue comments they have made for the last 5 years about President Obama and his family.
MSMBC has nothing but dirt bags working for them that could not work anywhere else. This station is nothing but a bunch of Obama clones.
Yeah, right.
It's not really a big deal. Nobody watches MSNBC. They are like a dog that cannot be trained not to poop in the dining room.
I think they do this on purpose so they can get twice the exposure they normally would, since they are half the journalists they should be.
I was more offended by the fact the family members were divided by gender according to pink or blue. Seriously, good for any family who gives a child without one of any color -a home.
The kicker here that pretty much sums the Right's reaction is from that paragon of deep thinking, Sarah Palin. In her supposed outrage at this misstep she neglects to make the point that she made about the Duck guy. With HIS statement she wailed on about the 1st Amendment and free speech. But her view of Harris-Perry's statement it was just disgusting. What happened to the free speech thing Palin?? Oh, that's right...when Mr Duck was putting down gay people it was all about free speech. But when it's about the Romney's black grandchild it isn't. The really sad part of it is that she's not intelligent enough to recognize the hypocrisy of the double standard.
Re: JAY: if your point had any merit, then Chris Rock, Carlos Mencia, any of the blue collar or kings of comedy would be completely out of work and railroaded for being racist. Race can be funny. We are far too sensitive as a nation regarding this stuff. You know what, I'm just going to start asking my white friends where their families derive from and start calling them Irish American, or Anglo Saxon American...whatever. Black, white, neither should be seen as a derogatory term. Again, our country is far too sensitive...by the way, I'm pretty sure that the anchor that said what she said is mixed race...partially black I'm sure.
The bottom line, if MSNBC had any balls, they would have the CEO or at least her boss go on TV and say, look it is our policy to be a bit more sensitive about these things, but the bottom line is she said something she thought was funny and did it without any hesitation or thought that it could be racist. She may have slipped her tongue but she has made it this far in her career and she didn't get there by being stupid. If she were in fact a racist, do you think she would be dumb enough to tout it over the network. I don't think so. Calm down everyone...it's not all about you.
Move on to the next made up crisis, destraction, etc. conservatives say worse day after day on Fox News or on the radio. If you don't like it watch another show or host.
Wow..... and they Phil Robertson over the coals.
FOX News insults people almost daily and no one apologies. Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh get big bucks to insult people. Americans seems to like to hate each other and want a civil war in this country. Are we a United States or just becoming another Iraq where bombing and killing each other is the newest sport? After all we have enough guns and the Duck Dynasty wants more American to kill. We are known around the world for killing people around the world.
She is only sorry that this got her into hot water. She is only apologizing out of fear of losing her show like Bashir did.
I for give you
Being mean and snarky when you are supposed to be a responsible reporter is finally being recognized as NOT THE WAY WE WANT TO GET OUR NEWS!!. I
fire her now!
Beyond journalistic recklessness. She knew what she was saying. She meant every word of what she spewed racistly and in true hypocritically bigoted a fashion. I take no pleasure in demanding she be sent off packing. She simply deserves to be canned.
I remember when you would be fired for not being professional, now you just get promoted for being incompetent.
Fire her. To be consistent with the way other news and TV personalities have been handled following their very inappropriate outbursts, fire her. She isn't a journalist.
Oh shut up with the apology, this from the most liberal and anti-conservative network ever. If another network did this to a Democrat they would be calling for their head.
It's kind of ironic that liberals and MSNBC have made their job to single out and draw attention to those who say unfortunate things like this – only to have one of their anchors trip up on air. You'd think they might now have some sympathy for those of us who now have to watch what we might be perceived to say 24-7 now thanks to the overly-PC world they created.
Sad to say, but if I said that on air. The station would be shut down. Think about it.
It's kind of ironic that liberals and MSNBC have made their job to single out and draw attention to those who say unfortunate things like this – only to have one of their anchors trip up on air. You'd think they might now have some sympathy for those of us who now have to watch what we might be perceived to say 24-7 now thanks to the overly-PC world they created.
She was completely right! what black kid wants to grow up in an all white mormon family???
Too late for an aploogy. These leftist liberals should be crucified, because only they are allowed to mess with us all without impunity. Down with all you cxrazies! Viva freedom from govt persecution!
BULL, sorry she got caught and called out for it maybe, but as part of the media she probably expected everyone to cover for her. . . she should be fired.