It is possible for celebrities to apologize well! IT IS! Here are some examples ranging from good to great.
Behold a superb apology from Questlove of The Roots after he made fun of Japanese accents.
Writer Chuck Klosterman offered a lovely, thoughtful apology for using the word “retard,” and put his money where his keyboard was.
Here is a fine one from the wayback machine: Abe Lincoln apologized to Ulysses S. Grant for second-guessing him on military strategy. (An unsolicited, personal, humble apology in an era before social media pressure! Even better!)
Ulysses S. Grant was not a vampire.
Actor Chris Hemsworth — perhaps with the help of director Taika Waititi (who told Snarly she wielded words like a sentinel of syntax and asked her to be his autobiographicalizinator, not that she’s bragging) — offered a very good apology for wearing a “Native American” Halloween costume in 2016. (BTW, Thor is also a good apologizer!)
Aussie broheem anchor Karl Stafanovic offered a surprisingly woke on-air apology for using the term “trannies.”
Dour Russian author Leo Tolstoy took a few tries to get it right, but he got there.
George Takei initially compounded the sin by telling those who were offended by his ableist Facebook post to lighten up, BUT he listened to criticism and eventually issued a good apology.
Three cheers for the Earl of Lauderdale, who apologized AND did not shoot Benedict Arnold in 1792, despite him totally being a traitor.
treasonous schmuck
Shep Smith of Fox News acquitted himself quite well here.
Look, I’m feeling kinda demoralized by people thinking Louis CK apologized well, what with him not actually saying he was sorry. (As we note repeatedly here, REGRET IS NOT APOLOGY, chant it with me.) I may tackle his statement tomorrow, or not. SorryWatch just did a close-reading of Spacey’s AND Weinstein’s statements, so we’re feeling kind of skanky-duded-out.
This post reminded me of Weird Al’s apology for using the word “spastic” in one of his songs. And while looking up the details, I came upon this article, with additional examples, both good and bad: http://skepchick.org/2015/04/so-youve-publicly-wrong-anatomy-of-a-good-apology/
Thanks, Lis! The Skepchick piece is great. (BTW, we also tackled those contrasting Avenger Apologies here.)
Your contact form link is not working for me, so I’m posting this here.
Here is one of the worst apologies I think I’ve ever seen, not even considering the magnitude and catholicity of the offensive behavior.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/patrickstrudwick/the-editor-of-gay-times-posted-dozens-of-offensive-tweets?utm_term=.etXkoe7o80#.ac2P3MQ310
You’re right — it’s all about him and his self-loathing — and his exciting new role!
Also, sorry about the contact form. This may be the result of a WordPress update, and we need to investigate. Thank you.