MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski apologized on air this morning for calling Secretary of State Mike Pompeo a “wannabe dictator’s butt-boy.”
“I wanted to address a term that I used on this show on Wednesday that was vulgar,” Brzezinski said. “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 that her father “would have found it so unbecoming and disrespectful.” The full apology is posted on NBC’s website.
An MSNBC source told iMediaEthics that MSNBC didn’t plan to discipline Brzezinski.
As iMediaEthics previously reported, Brzezinski’s comment was in a Dec. 12 segment about Pompeo’s comments regarding the savage murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
“The MSNBC host did not anchor Thursday’s show, with her co-host and husband, Joe Scarborough, saying she had a previous family engagement,” Politico noted.