Joy-Ann Reid opened her MSNBC show AM Joy on Saturday by addressing the controversy stemming from anti-gay remarks found on her old blog, which she has denied writing.
While she said that she does not believe she wrote those blog posts, she admitted her other statements and actions were wrong and offensive.
“I genuinely do not believe I wrote those hateful things because they are completely alien to me,” Reid said on her show. “But I can definitely understand, based on things I have tweeted and have written in the past, why some people don’t believe me. I’ve not been exempt from being dumb, or cruel or hurtful to the very people I want to advocate for. I own that. I get it. And for that I am truly, truly sorry.”
.@MSNBC's Joy Reid addresses homophobic blog posts:
"I genuinely do not believe I wrote those hateful things … But I can definitely understand, based on things I have tweeted and have written in the past, why some people don't believe me." Pic.twitter.com/PWjdPfs5KB
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) April 28, 2018
Reid continued by providing examples of past behavior she said was wrong and wanted to apologize for, including jokes she made about Ann Coulter using transgender stereotypes, apologizing to a friend that brought the incident to her attention, the trans community and Coulter herself.
Reid also noted that while she doesn’t think she wrote the posts, she hired cybersecurity experts to see if someone manipulated her words or blog, but “the reality is they have not been able to prove it,” Reid said.
The controversy stems from a number of blog posts from Reid’s old blog “The Reid Report” that included anti-gay jokes and comments.
Thread – 1/x Joy Reid's homophobic blog posts were far worse than 1st reported.
They also had nothing to do with Republican hypocrisy on gay marriage. Joy also opposed gay marriage at the time. She gleefully accused people of being gay and posted a number of questionable things. Pic.twitter.com/ZloivXczTS
— Chuck (Taylor's Version) (@Jamie_Maz) April 18, 2018
She has since denied that she wrote the posts, even leading the FBI to open an investigation into the matter, according to Reid’s lawyer.
