Brzezinski apologizes on-air for homophobic remark after backlash

MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski on Friday made an apology on-air on “Morning Joe” after using a homophobic remark to describe Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earlier in the week.

“I want to get to something first. I was off yesterday for a family matter, as you mentioned, but I wanted to address a term that I used on this show on Wednesday that was vulgar. I knew it right away and I tweeted that it was a terrible choice of words and that I was sorry, but please allow me to say this face-to-face,” Brzezinski began. 

Brzezinski’s live apology came after she referred to Pompeo as a “wannabe dictator’s butt-boy” on Wednesday. Her audio appeared to be cut right after the comment in an apparent attempt to censor the statement, but the backlash quickly rippled through social media.

{mosads}The host said Friday that the term was “crass and offensive” and offered an apology to members of the LGBTQ community and her MSNBC colleagues. 

“It was a mistake,” she said.

She also invoked her father Zbigniew Brzezinski, a Polish-American diplomat who was a counselor to President Lyndon B. Johnson and National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter.

“My father would have found it so unbecoming and disrespectful and he would have told me,” Brezinzki said.

“I will work hard to be better. But I just wanted to say on camera, looking the viewers straight in the eye, I am really, really sorry,” she concluded.

President Trump slammed Brzezinski on Thursday for the comment, accusing the media of having a double standard for the “Morning Joe” host.

“If it was a Conservative that said what ‘crazed’ Mika Brzezinski stated on her show yesterday, using a certain horrible term, that person would be banned permanently from television,” Trump tweeted on Thursday. “She will probably be given a pass, despite their terrible ratings.”

If it was a Conservative that said what “crazed” Mika Brzezinski stated on her show yesterday, using a certain horrible term, that person would be banned permanently from television….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2018

Brzezinski and her co-host and husband, Joe Scarborough, have been frequent outspoken critics of the Trump administration.