Mika Brzezinski apologizes after calling Mike Pompeo 'a wannabe dictator's butt boy' on 'Morning Joe'

Mika Brzezinski is apologizing for her poor “choice of words” on Wednesday’s Morning Joe.

During a segment this morning, the MSNBC host went after Mike Pompeo for his response to the murder of Saudi journalist and Washington Post writer Jamal Khashoggi, calling the secretary of state a “wannabe dictator’s butt boy.”

Pompeo angered Brzezinski in his appearance on Fox & Friends where he continued to downplay the CIA’s conclusion that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the brutal killing of Khashoggi. (Even the Fox News hosts didn’t seem to buy Pompeo’s assessment of the murder.)

“I understand that Donald Trump doesn’t care,” Brzezinski said on-air. “But why doesn’t Mike Pompeo care right now? 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? I’m dead serious. I’m asking: Are these the words of a patriot?”

It appeared that the network tried — and failed — to edit out Brzezinski’s comment before it aired. In a clip posted to Twitter, you can see that MSNBC did not transcribe her remark in the closed captioning.

But the damage was done — Brzezinski’s statement was quickly deemed homophobic and lit up social media.

Brzezinski apologized on Twitter for her “SUPER BAD choice of words” after the show.

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:

• Ellen DeGeneres considers retiring from her talk show — and Portia de Rossi is all for it

• Bill Murray could have starred in ‘Rain Man,’ and 4 other things you didn’t know as classic film turns 30

• Ellen Pompeo says ‘sticking up or celebrating brown people does not mean I am anti-white’