MSNBC host Joy Reid issued a statement on Friday apologizing for comments she made in the past on a now-defunct blog — the latest twist in an ongoing saga over a series of offensive posts, some of which the TV personality claims were fabricated by hackers.
“While I published my blog, starting in 2005, I wrote thousands of posts in real time on the issues of the day. There are things I deeply regret and am embarrassed by, things I would have said differently and issues where my position has changed. Today I’m sincerely apologizing again,” Reid said in the statement. “I’m sorry for the collateral damage and pain this is causing individuals and communities caught in the crossfire.”
Reid specifically addressed blog posts surfaced this week in which she encouraged people to look into a 9/11 conspiracy theory and photoshopped Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) onto the body of the Virginia Tech shooter.
“To be clear, I have the highest respect for Sen. McCain as a public servant and patriot and wish him and his family the best. I have reached out to Meghan McCain and will continue to do so. She is a former on-air colleague and I feel deeply for her and her family,” Reid said in the Friday statement, adding later that she believes there’s “no question in my mind that Al Qaeda perpetrated the 9/11 attacks or about Israel’s right to its sovereignty.”
Reid said that her beliefs have evolved and that she is “a better person today than I was over a decade ago.”
“I believe the totality of my work attests to my ideals and I continue to grow every day,” she concluded in the statement.
MSNBC also issued a statement Friday emphasizing that Reid’s past views reflected on her blog do not represent the network’s values.
“Some of the things written by Joy on her old blog are obviously hateful and hurtful. They are not reflective of the colleague and friend we have known at MSNBC for the past seven years. Joy has apologized publicly and privately and said she has grown and evolved in the many years since, and we know this to be true,” MSNBC said in a statement.
In her Friday statement, Reid did not address posts that appear to be from her defunct blog that surfaced back in April, which featured homophobic comments. Her Friday statement also made no mention of hacking, on which she blamed for the homophobic comments that appeared in archived versions of her blog.
