MSNBC Host Melissa Harris-Perry Offers Apology to Romney Family Over Panel Jokes Regarding Adopted Grandson
MSNBC anchor Melissa Harris-Perry issued an apology in the wake of the controversy spurred by a panel discussion regarding the Romney family and their adopted grandson.
The firestorm began after the Sunday show's panel joked about a Romney family Christmas photo that featured Mitt Romney's grandson, Kieran.
"One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just isn't the same," said actress Pia Glenn.
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While fellow panelist Dean Obeidallah compared the Romney photo to the current demographic of the Republican Party.
"It really sums up the diversity of the Republican party, the RNC. At the convention, they find the one black person," joked Obeidallah.
Shortly after the segment aired conservatives took to social media to voice their displeasure over the comments made at the child's expense.
"MSNBC has become a club where the smug go to exchange hateful opinions and reassure each other it's acceptable," tweeted Romney 2012 senior adviser Stuart Stevens.
"Wildly inappropriate incident. Viewers and the Romney family deserve better," tweeted one-term Massachusetts senator Scott Brown.
The eruption of negativity throughout social media forced apologies from members of the panel.
"Occasionally my jokes have been known to 'cross the line' and I can assure you that in the future some of my jokes will do that again," Obeidallah wrote in a statement given to CNN. "My joke on MHP was not intended in any way to mock the Romney family or the baby they adopted. Rather it was a joke about the lack of racial diversity that we see at the Republican National Convention. I apologize to the Romney family and especially the baby if any of them were offended by that joke," he added.
Shortly thereafter, Glenn offered her own apologies.
"Adoptive parents giving a child of ANY ethnicity a loving home,I apologize.I absolutely did not intend to harm you but it seems that I have," she tweeted.
That harshest criticisms were directed towards the show's host who posted her own series of apologies to Twitter on Tuesday morning.
"I am sorry. Without reservation or qualification. I apologize to the Romney family. #MHPapology." Harris-Perry wrote.
"I apologize to all families built on loving transracial adoptions who feel I degraded their lives or choices. #MHPapology." Read another tweet.
