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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Funny how every news outlet has not covered this when it happened, but only the apology. Fox is the only station mentioning this when it occurred. Even funnier is she is a mixed race child and she does something this low and horrible. People think the GOP is racist, but no one is saying anything racist on the GOP side. they are only called racist when they disagree with the president. Romney never said anything racist in the past and has done more for the needy than all the current white House Cabinet combined. Obama and Biden are horrible people with no clue on how to help people. This has nothing to do with their race, but all to do with what's in their hearts.
And when Paula Deen apologized liberals blasted her more.
faked tears. After almost a week. MSNBC preaches a hatred. It is no surprise that their hosts are promoting more hate.
Romney adopting a black child is just plain weird no matter how you want to look at it. Conservatives just don't demonstrate liberal personal values.
Still boycotting msnbc until they admit the lies about the trayvon Martin incident. They are the lowest of all journalism.
fire this racist
Americans LMAO.. Where is the tears for kidnapping, torturing, illegally imprisoning, assassinating, drone killing civilians? U.S citizens are the joke of the world. And its a bad joke since its punishing innocent people all the time.
Melissa Harris-Perry has a dark soul and an evil heart. Looking in her eyes and you will see nothing but evil. She knew what she was doing all along.
I note that response depends on your politics. Republicans say only her being fired will be acceptable. Besides MSNBC are racist commie terrorists. When this happens in reverse let's see what the Democrats say and how the Fox host reacts.
A white friend of mine and his wife (also white) could not conceive after their first child. They wanted a larger family and to give another child an opportunity. The adopted a beautiful daughter who is black, two years later they adopted a male baby who is also black. All three of these children are loved and will have the chance to pursue their dreams. They are not a demographic. I find Ms. Harris-Perry's mockery of adoption to be truly pathetic.
MSNBC has to do some serious soul searching given the actions of the people the choose to put on the air. I will not be watching MSNBC until they start to show some respect for others.
MSNBC is terrible!
Everybody knows why Romney got a black baby, the only offense here is this lady thought it would be wise to mention the obvious on national news.
You people are full of crap.
The Left tells the right to f off, and then "Oh – I apologize!" Its their way of running things.
She screwed up and apologized -which is something that the clowns who work in various facets of conservative media would never do.
This was WAY OVERBLOWN out of proportion. Move on, people.
Not accepted – What kind of person says things like this in the first place – Not a very good one – She just get away with it and is exposed for the garbage she is – She needs to be FIRED
I think MSNBC should tape all their shows and play them before an editor with an IQ over 75 before airing them. Clearly there is something in the water at those studios.
"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,"
that sounds like two qualifications followed by an apology without qualification
She's only sorry because of all the negative publicity resulting their mindless cracks...her and the panel thought nothing of giggling,mocking and degrading Romney and his family at the time ...but mindlessness is nothing new for the sub standard MSNBC...and the hosts and commentators at MSNBC are nothing less then propagandist posing as journalist....Shame on them all. .
For those who are saying this "isn't a big deal" and "why are we even talking about this", please remember that when a white person said anything at all about a black person over the last 5 years, they were ridiculed and most of them were fired and they were thrashed in the media. Melissa Harris-Perry has said so much worse than this and is a vile racist individual and teaches classes with a harsh racial tone against whites where she is a tenured professor, hence her reason for being a host on MSNBC. I think she is getting off easy compared to other white hosts in the past, and I think she should be fired and torched in the media like a white person would have been.
This reminds of when the Chinese communist party would make people confess to anything during Mao's cultural purge in 1966. I wonder if some gang of five is running MSNBC.
She should get an Oscar.
Why do you think some cnn blogs are so spiteful if the Caring Romney Family? / Hope many of you are willing to take in an Black American Child that was left behind? Shame on the cowardly posts against a wonderful family. You can square that with your maker one day.
Unfortunately, she sounds like the only thing she's really sorry for is that she had to apologize.
@DeepeThought: "People make mistakes. Forgive and (try to) forget. But this never would have happened if liberals were not hell bent on degrading anything and everything the is conservative."
And the righties are all as pure as the driven snow – NOT!