Joy Reid Addresses Blog Scandal: ‘I Genuinely Don’t Believe I Wrote Those Hateful Things’
Almost a week after she first claimed that homophobic posts that resurfaced from her old blog were the result of hacking and manipulation, MSNBC’s Joy Reid first addressed this controversy on the air. And while she stated that she still doesn’t think she wrote the posts, though acknowledging her cyber-security expert can’t prove that, she knows why many don’t believe her.
“I genuinely do not believe I wrote those hateful things because they are completely alien to me,” Reid said at the top of AM Joy Saturday morning. “But I can definitely understand based on things I have tweeted and I have written in the past why some people don’t believe me.”
She continued, “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.”
The MSNBC host went on to apologize for transphobic tweets she had sent in the past that targeted Ann Coulter, adding that she grew up in a household with conservative views on LGBT issues and that she understands she was insensitive in the past in the way she talked about gender identity and sexual orientation.
“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,” Reid said. “Even a decade ago when the country was in a very different place but I cannot take any of that back. I can only say that the person I am now is not the person I was then.”
The liberal commentator further stated that she likes to feel she has become a better person over time and that she’s not the same person she was 10 years ago.
“These issues matter not just theoretically but because we’re talking about our friends, our kids, our co-workers. people that deserve better than what I have sometimes given them,” Reid concluded as she introduced her panel, which would go on to discuss the matter in depth.
Considering that she still believes that she didn’t write the worst blog posts that recently surfaced, and is only owning some past tweets, one wonders how this will fly with critics and observers. On top of that, is this on-air statement/semi-apology a bit too late? I guess we’ll have to see how this plays out.
