Mika Brzezinski apologizes for 'crass and offensive' homophobic term on Morning Joe

Nick Romano
Updated
Mika Brzezinski apologizes for homophobic term on Morning Joe

After referring to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as a “wannabe dictator’s butt boy” on MSNBC’s Morning Joe this week, cohost Mika Brzezinski took time out of her program to apologize for the homophobic term.

“I wanted to address a term that I used on this show on Wednesday that was vulgar,” Brzezinski said on Friday. “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: the term is crass and offensive and I apologize to everybody, especially the LGBTQ community and to my colleagues, for using it. It was a mistake.”

She added, “I will work hard to be better, but I just wanted to say on camera, looking people straight in the eye: I am really, really sorry.”

Brzezinski and her husband cohost Joe Scarborough were discussing Pompeo’s appearance on Fox & Friends.

Pompeo gave a tepid response to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. While the Senate passed a resolution condemning Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for Khashoggi’s death, President Trump, who has business ties with the nation, refuses to cast such blame. Pompeo continued to deflect on Fox & Friends by saying, “It is absolutely America’s intent to hold everyone accountable who was responsible for this.”

“Are the pathetic deflections that we just heard when he appeared on Fox & Friends, is that a patriot speaking or a wannabe dictator’s butt boy?” Brzezinski asked on Wednesday’s Morning Joe. “And I’m dead serious, I’m asking are these the words of a patriot?”

Brzezinski was off the show Thursday dealing with a “family matter,” but she apologized in a brief post on Twitter. At the time, she called it a “super bad choice of words” and suggested she “should have said ‘water boy’… like for football teams or something like that..”

Trump, forever trading jabs with the Morning Joe host on Twitter, seized on this opportunity to criticize Brzezinski.

“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… She will probably be given a pass, despite their terrible ratings,” he tweeted.

Meanwhile, Trump’s administration continues to attack the rights of LGBTQ Americans, so… yeah.