Before I am an artist, I am a father, a son, and a brother to some of the most cherished women in the world. So for me to suggest in any way that harm and violation be brought to a woman is one of my biggest mistakes and regrets. As an artist, one of the most liberating things is being able to paint pictures with my words. But with that comes a great responsibility. And most recently, my choice of words was not only offensive, it does not reflect my true heart. And for this, I apologize. To every woman that has felt the sting of abuse, I apologize. I recognize that as an artist I have a voice and with that, the power of influence. To the young men who listen to my music, please know that using a substance to rob a woman of her right to make a choice is not only a crime, it’s wrong and I do not encourage it. To my fans, I also apologize if I have disappointed you. I can only hope that this sparks a healthy dialogue and that I can contribute to it.Rapper Rick Ross finally apologizes for his controversial lyrics on Rocko’s “U.O.E.N.O.” source
There’s your apology from The Onion, folks. (thanks kateoplis)
Currently making his first public statements after a scandal: Jonah Lehrer. ”If I write again, then what I write will be fully fact-checked and footnoted,” he said.
MORE STUFF: What led Jonah Lehrer to this point?
We screwed up. It shouldn’t have taken a wave of constructive criticism — but it has — to alert us that we’ve made a mistake, possibly several mistakes. We now realize that as we explored new forms of digital advertising, we failed to update the policies that must govern the decisions we make along the way. It’s safe to say that we are thinking a lot more about these policies after running this ad than we did beforehand. In the meantime, we have decided to withdraw the ad until we figure all of this out. We remain committed to and enthusiastic about innovation in digital advertising, but acknowledge—sheepishly—that that we got ahead of ourselves. We are sorry, and we’re working very hard to put things right.
If you remember correctly, the ad was something of a spectacle. Fun to look at though.
Apple CEO Tim Cook: ‘We fell short’ on new Maps app in iOS 6, suggests third-party alternatives
Apple has been under fire since last week’s launch of iOS 6 and its new, in-house Maps app — and now Apple’s CEO Tim Cook has published an open letter in which he admits that the new app “fell short” of the company’s high standards.
Holy. Crap. Wow.
Obviously when you go through something like this, it’s painful for everybody. Most importantly, it’s painful for fans. We’re sorry to have to put fans through that. Sometimes you have to go through something like that in the short term for the right agreement for the long term.NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell • Apologizing to fans for the games officiated by replacement referees. Goodell was a target of much of the criticism over the lockout, criticism that intensified after a blown call during Monday’s Packers/Seahawks game.
Perhaps he doesn’t plan to drop out? The Missouri Senate candidate, who was rumored to be dropping out as of yesterday afternoon, appears to be at least trying to salvage his campaign right now, releasing this ad. Akin didn’t have the best day on Monday, facing sharp rebukes from his own party and skipping out on “Piers Morgan Tonight” at the very last second. Akin drew stern criticism over the weekend after he claimed that women couldn’t get pregnant from “legitimate rape” — a claim that suddenly gives Claire McCaskill a chance to win re-election.
I have decided that I will not be able to serve a second term as a Successor Fellow of the Yale Corporation. I am reexamining my professional life and I have recognized that, in order to focus on the core of my work, I will have to shed some of my other responsibilities.Time and CNN journalist Fareed Zakaria • Revealing to Yale President Richard C. Levin his plans to resign from the school’s governing board, weeks after he received a major professional scare — getting suspended from his two main gigs after getting caught plagiarizing. (Both CNN and Time eventually accepted him back.) Zakaria likely had too much on his plate: “My service at Yale is the single largest commitment of time, energy, and attention outside of my writing and television work,” he also wrote in his note. Levin graciously accepted the note and thanked the journalist for his work.
“As a member of Congress, I believe that working to protect the most vulnerable in our society is one of my most important responsibilities, and that includes protecting both the unborn and victims of sexual assault. In reviewing my off-the-cuff remarks, it’s clear that I misspoke in this interview and it does not reflect the deep empathy I hold for the thousands of women who are raped and abused every year. Those who perpetrate these crimes are the lowest of the low in our society and their victims will have no stronger advocate in the Senate to help ensure they have the justice they deserve.
“I recognize that abortion, and particularly in the case of rape, is a very emotionally charged issue. But I believe deeply in the protection of all life and I do not believe that harming another innocent victim is the right course of action. I also recognize that there are those who, like my opponent, support abortion and I understand I may not have their support in this election.
“But I also believe that this election is about a wide-range of very important issues, starting with the economy and the type of country we will be leaving our children and grandchildren. We’ve had 42 straight months of unacceptably high unemployment, trillion dollar deficits, and Democratic leaders in Washington who are focused on growing government, instead of jobs. That is my primary focus in this campaign and while there are those who want to distract from that, knowing they cannot defend the Democrats’ failed economic record of the last four years, that will continue to be my focus in the months ahead.”
The comments have clearly riled people up today, understandably.
We love headlines like this. Adelson, you’ll recall, is the casino magnate who single-handedly kept Newt Gingrich’s presidential campaign from collapsing so moons ago. He’s still a prominent Republican contributor, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee—the party apparatus in charge of electing House Democrats—is in some hot water for making some sketchily-sourced claims about Adelson. They caved yesterday and apologized after Adelson threatened to sue. source
Earlier Bryson tweet with hashtag ‘#skills’ attempted levity (before facts known) and failed miserably. We took it down and regret the tweetKarl Rove-run Super PAC American Crossroads GPS • Apologizing via tweet for suggesting that Commerce Secretary John Bryson’s weekend hit-and-run accidents might have been the result of drunk driving. Maybe it’s just us, but a Twitter apology seems like, quite literally, the absolute least you could do after realizing you are 100% in the wrong. Um, may want to have a press conference, Karl. source (via • follow)
“On Sunday, in discussing the uses of the word “hero” to describe those members of the armed forces who have given their lives, I don’t think I lived up to the standards of rigor, respect and empathy for those affected by the issues we discuss that I’ve set for myself. I am deeply sorry for that.
As many have rightly pointed out, it’s very easy for me, a TV host, to opine about the people who fight our wars, having never dodged a bullet or guarded a post or walked a mile in their boots. Of course, that is true of the overwhelming majority of our nation’s citizens as a whole. One of the points made during Sunday’s show was just how removed most Americans are from the wars we fight, how small a percentage of our population is asked to shoulder the entire burden and how easy it becomes to never read the names of those who are wounded and fight and die, to not ask questions about the direction of our strategy in Afghanistan, and to assuage our own collective guilt about this disconnect with a pro-forma ritual that we observe briefly before returning to our barbecues.
But in seeking to discuss the civilian-military divide and the social distance between those who fight and those who don’t, I ended up reinforcing it, conforming to a stereotype of a removed pundit whose views are not anchored in the very real and very wrenching experience of this long decade of war. And for that I am truly sorry.”
An update to our earlier post on the matter.
Mitt Romney’s greatest refusals to apologize: “American Greatness” apparently also means just flat-out verbally refusing to say you’re sorry. We get it, Romney. You’re not going to $@#&ing apologize for anything, to the point where you’ll call your book “No Apology.”