MSNBC host Joy Reid addressed the homophobic posts on her now-defunct blog in the opening monologue of her show Saturday morning.
“I genuinely do not believe I wrote those hateful things because they are completely alien to me but I can definitely understand, based on things I have tweeted and have written in the past, why some people don’t believe me,” she said. “I have not been exempt from being cruel or hurtful to the very people I want to advocate for. I own that. I get it. And for that I am truly, truly sorry.”
She apologized for specific instances where she has been homophobic, adding that she was raised in a conservative household and that her views have evolved with age.
“Especially for trans people I feel like I should have known better than to ever write in a way to make fun of or make light of that pain and experience even a decade ago when the country was in a very different place, but I cannot take any of that back,” she said. “I can only say that the person I am now is not the person I was then.”
Posts from Reid’s old blog were published on Monday, containing vitriolic homophobic comments. Reid has denied that she wrote the posts, even getting a cyber expert to investigate traces of hacking. Some have doubted her claims, citing old posts voicing homophobic sentiments that were unearthed in December.
Watch below:
Joy Reid addresses the homophobic posts on her now-defunct blog pic.twitter.com/RjCueROieT
— Kate Riga (@Kate_Riga24) April 28, 2018
I think she is done. There are a different set of standards for Democrats.
I fear that you’re right. This was handled really badly. Her directness and point of view have been really important ones and will now be diminished.
Being far from perfect myself, I am inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt, with the added proviso that it must not be repeated going forward. I think her overall behavior and actions should be more relevant, and in this case should buy her at least a little leeway, but I also thought the same about Al Franken, and where did that get him? I should perhaps admit that these situations may look very different to someone who is actually one of the aggrieved parties, which I am not. Still, if the standard for liberal voices is going to be absolute purity, we will end up with no one left standing.
She should get the same consideration Franken got, which is none.
I’m going to give a pass on this. I don’t really care what she said 10 years ago. My mother hated gay people until I ‘came out’, now she loves me. People change, but they have to prove it, and I think Reid has proven her change of heart.