MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry came under fire last week for comments made on her show about the Romney family. During a “caption this photo” segment, the panel of comedians had a laugh over former Gov. Mitt Romney’s adopted black grandson, Kieran Romney, who appeared with the rest of the Romney grandchildren in a photo.
The panel’s remarks, which included a ‘joke’ about the photo is somehow symbolic of the Republican Party’s “diversity” issues, were immediately scrutinized by the left and right. Harris-Perry took to Twitter immediately after the incident to apologize and followed it up with a tearful on-air mea culpa yesterday.
Watch the original segment and apology in the clip below:
During an appearance on Fox News Sunday, Gov. Romney accepted Harris-Perry’s apology and suggested it was time for everyone to move on. On radio this morning, Glenn explained that he actually wrote Harris-Perry a letter expressing why he believes she has been treated wrongly in this particular situation.
“Here's what happened. There's blood in the water at MSNBC because they have made so many bad hires and [done] so many bad things,” Glenn explained. “I don't know Melissa Harris-Perry, but I don't believe that she's a bad person. I disagree with her on everything. But… I've never gotten the impression that she's a bad human being… And I don't think she said anything bad.”
Since he did not have a way to get in contact with her directly, Glenn wrote the following note to his P.R. person:
I know the Romneys. They are good, loving people. Racism is a human problem. It does not discriminate on color or political party. I'm not sure that Melissa Harris-Perry or any of the people at NBC see the heart of Christians and conservatives in our country. It's easy to lump all of us in with cartoon versions of people and even easier to dismiss us as unthinking, unfeeling cavemen who hate everything that looks or sounds new or different. It saddens me that no one ever takes the time to even try to see the American people for who they really are.
I've been up in the mountains for two weeks as you know. But when I got home and saw the apology for what she said about Romney, I thought I was going to lose my mind. She apologizes, for what? It was a break with comedians. Yes, it wasn't nice. Yes, it was hurtful and divisive, if that was the intent. But it clearly was not. There are many dishonest, destructive, and arrogant people on MSNBC, but I don't think this, by any means, was an example of a person like that.
When I saw her apologize on air, I knew it was real. And I have been there. I don’t apologize for my opinion or political views, no one should be forced to. Calling me a conservative or calling somebody else a Marxist is not an insult. It is a political label, and it is fair game. Going after children, as she said, is not fair game. But that wasn’t her intent. I truly believe that our side now is refusing to see her – who she is – and we are engaging now in the worst kind of political destruction. Both sides do it. Both sides will lose in the end if they continue to be the cause of the death of a once great and united people.
Could you please pass a note from me to her? I have no idea how to get it to her, but I want her to know that while we may and should meet on the battlefield of ideas, the politics of destruction has got to stop. I fear this time our side sees blood in the water and is going after her and MSNBC. It’s more wrong than anything she said here, especially since their intent is to hurt and to destroy and hers was not. I'll be making this point on the air on Monday. She needs to know there are people that don't hate her and do have a reason. We do not have a right as people to not be offended. We do have a right to speak our mind. We do have the right to tell a joke. But as citizens of a free society we must also recognize that because we share those rights with a very diverse society, we are going to hear many bad jokes, many crazy opinions, and many wrong theories. We need to celebrate the fact and recognize that those theories, those crazy opinions, and those stumbles will make us stronger as individuals.
Please let her know she's in my family's prayers tonight. She's wrong on many things, but I don't believe she's a bad person. And even the best of us screw up. In the grand scheme of things, if this is her big screw up, she's way ahead of me as a human being.
“I think that what's happening here is a collective moment for our side to say: Let's not become those things we despise. Let's not become that,” Glenn concluded. “My side is the truth. My side is humanity.”
