Amy's Robot

How to apologize without apologizing

Today's statement from Don Imus about last week's racist comments is a perfect lesson in how to explain your own bad behavior in a way that sounds sort of like an apology, without actually saying that you were in the wrong.

Here's what he said:

Then he goes on to say that he knows actual real live black people:

So here's a translation: It's OK to "make fun" of most people, but black female basketball players do not deserve to be made fun of. And calling them "nappy-headed hos" amounts to a "fun" jab, not a racist slur. Also, times have changed, and while it used to be OK to make comments like that on the air, I guess now I have to censor myself and my fun banter. Plus, fewer black children than are accurately representative of the US population come to my cattle ranch.

Unbelievable. Imus seems to have learned from the great non-apologizers like Cynthia McKinney ("There should not have been any physical contact in this incident. I am sorry that this misunderstanding happened at all"), Tom Delay ("I said something in an inartful way, and I shouldn't have said it that way, and I apologize for saying it that way. It was taken wrong." and Rosie O'Donnell ("So apparently 'ching-chong,' unbeknownst to me, is a very offensive way to make fun, quote-unquote, or mock, Asian accents. Some people have told me it's as bad as the n-word. I was like, really? I didn't know that.")

All this fake apologizing makes me almost appreciate someone like Dick Cheney, who just doesn't even bother pretending.

categories: Media, Race, Sports
posted by amy at 5:08 PM | #