Mika Brzezinski apologizes on air for using 'crass and offensive' term

Kyle Moss

Mika Brzezinski, co-host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, was back on the air Friday after missing Thursday’s show for a long-planned family matter, and she was quick to address comments she made on Wednesday’s show that have since been strongly criticized.

While discussing the response Mike Pompeo gave to Fox & Friends about the slaying of Saudi journalist and Washington Post writer Jamal Khashoggi, Brzezinski said this: “Is that a patriot speaking? Or a wannabe dictator’s butt boy? I’m dead serious. I’m asking: Are these the words of a patriot?”

As criticisms immediately poured in on Twitter, Brzezinski responded shortly after the show ended with an apology.

Brzezinski was also criticized by President Trump, who took to Twitter with his reaction on Thursday.

And after she missed Thursday’s show, apologizing on air was Brzezinski’s first order of business on Friday. “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 said. “The term is crass and offensive and I apologize to everyone, especially the LGBTQ community and to my colleagues for using it. It was a mistake. My father would have found it so unbecoming and disrespectful and he would have told me. 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.”

Morning Joe airs weekdays at 6 a.m. on MSNBC.

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