Norm Macdonald Apologizes for Down Syndrome Remark on The View: It Was a 'Terrible Thing For Me to Say'

Norm Macdonald, who earlier this week found himself in hot water for making disparaging remarks about the #MeToo movement, is once again apologizing, this time for a comment he made about people born with Down syndrome.

On Thursday’s The View, the comedian admitted that he made yet another “terrible” mistake when he appeared on The Howard Stern Show and said that “you’d have to have Down syndrome not to feel sorry” for the victims of sexual abuse.

“It’s always bad when you have to apologize for an apology,” Macdonald said on The View. “There used to be a word we would all say to mean stupid that we don’t say anymore… and stupidly, I was about to say that word, and I stopped and said, ‘What’s the right word to say?’ and then I said a different word that was equally offensive.

“I realized at that moment that I had done something unforgivable,” Macdonald continued. “The remark I made about people with Down syndrome was just a terrible, terrible, terrible thing for me to say.”

Macdonald’s initial remarks regarding the #MeToo movement — in which he seemed to equate the losses sustained by Louis C.K. and Chris Hardwick as a result of sexual misconduct allegations with the pain suffered by their victims — resulted in a cancelled Tonight Show appearance on Tuesday.

“What I was talking about was Chris Hardwick, this particular comedian who’s a friend of mine,” Macdonald explained on The View. “You know, if 500 women go against a man, obviously the guy is guilty. But the Chris Hardwick one, it was one woman against one man, so I was saying I thought it was good that the pendulum [has] swung and Chris Hardwick has been [as] rehabilitated as he’s going to get. He still tells me he can’t walk down the street without people yelling stuff at him, but that’s all I was trying to say.”

As for reports that Tonight Show staffers were in tears over his #MeToo remarks before his appearance was canned, Macdonald said he was “surprised” by the reaction “because I never did anything… I spoke, but I don’t want to be tossed in with people [who committed] sins.”

Your thoughts on Macdonald’s attempts to subdue his latest controversy on The View?

Related stories

Grey's Anatomy Showrunner Previews Meredith's 'Joyful, Funny, Complicated Journey' Back to Love in Season 15

Ratings: Take Two Ends on a High Note

Designing Women Sequel Lands at ABC

Get more from TVLine: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter