(Credit: Twitter, screenshot)
Geraldo Rivera gave a sort of apology for his March 23 comment that “[I] am urging the parents of black and Latino youngsters particularly to not let their children go out wearing hoodies. I think the hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin’s death as George Zimmerman was.”
But, Rivera, a Fox News Channel host, didn’t make his apology simple.
According to POLITICO, Rivera e-mailed this statement
“I apologize to anyone offended by what one prominent black conservative called my ‘very practical and potentially life-saving campaign urging black and Hispanic parents not to let their children go around wearing hoodies.'”
But, BusinessWeek explained Rivera said “I don’t apologize at all for the substance of my advice. I was trying to save lives.” And, Rivera tweeted March 26 “Heard petition demands my apology to Trayvon’s parents. Save effort: I deeply apologize for any hurt I caused-that is not my goal or intent.”
Rivera also said on the radio, according to POLITICO:
“[M]y own family and friends believe [that] I have obscured or diverted attention from the principal fact, which is that an unarmed 17-year old was shot dead by a man who was never seriously investigated by local police. And if that is true, I apologize.”
The Washington Post’s Erik Wemple noted that Rivera “pretty much undid his apology” in his on-air statement saying that
“I apologize for hurting people’s feelings. I don’t back down from my message . . . Don’t be a 9-1-1 call waiting to happen.”
The Christian Science Monitor used Rivera’s apology-ish statement as the starting point to question “why is a good apology so hard to find?” The Christian Science Monitor explained:
“The number of reported public apologies has skyrocketed recently, yet the quality of those apologies is plummeting.”
According to BusinessWeek, Rivera said the apology was prompted by a “conversation with his oldest son” who “said he was ashamed” of Rivera’s comments.
The Los Angeles Times reported that the Washington Post’s Alexandra Petri likened Rivera’s comments to “blaming a woman who’s been raped instead of her attacker.”
Meanwhile, a University of Texas-Austin college newspaper the Daily Texan apologized for its cartoon about Martin’s killing, Editor & Publisher pointed out. The published cartoon misspelled Martin’s name and called him a “colored boy,” according to the New York Daily News. The newspaper’s cartoonist apologized and “no longer works for the Daily Texan,” the Daily News noted. The newspaper’s “editorial board,” gave the OK for the cartoon to be published, but now is calling it a “failure in judgment.”
