MSNBC host Joy Reid on Friday released another lengthy apology over incendiary content from her old blog, which has continued to trickle out in recent weeks.
“While I published my blog, starting in 2005, I wrote thousands of posts in real time on the issues of the day,” said Reid in a statement to TheWrap. “There are things I deeply regret and am embarrassed by, things I would have said differently and issues where my position has changed. Today I’m sincerely apologizing again.”
While Reid did make amends for the post on-air about one month ago, she has long held that her old website was hacked and that it’s content did not come from her. In her new statement, there was no mention of any hacking.
The apology from Reid also included references to content unearthed by BuzzFeed in recent weeks, specifically a post from 2007 in which Reid photoshopped the head of John McCain onto the Virginia Tech shooter and another where she promoted the 9/11 conspiracy film “Loose Change.”
To be clear, I have the highest respect for Sen. McCain as a public servant and patriot and wish him and his family the best. I have reached out to Meghan McCain and will continue to do so. She is a former on-air colleague and I feel deeply for her and her family. I’ve also spoken openly about my evolution on many issues and know that I’m a better person today than I was over a decade ago. I am the daughter of immigrants and have worked to be a strong ally of these communities. There is no question in my mind that Al Qaeda perpetrated the 9/11 attacks or about Israel’s right to its sovereignty.
Since MSNBC and Reid attributed the posts to a hack, the company has faced mounting demands to produce evidence. Reid herself led an exhaustive investigation in April — including opening an FBI investigation — but turned up nothing. A wide range of experts called her claims unlikely.
In an early apology on-air, Reid still refused to completely rule out some nefarious activity by someone.
“I genuinely do not believe I wrote those hateful things because they are completely alien to me but I can definitely understand based on things I have tweeted, have written in the past why some people don’t believe me,” she said at the top of her MSNBC show “AM Joy” on April 28. “For that I am truly, truly sorry.”