Mika Brzezinski, co-host of liberal MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” created controversy when she spitefully used a slur to describe Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on the December 12th broadcast of her show. During the live show, Brzezinski addressed Pompeo’s response to the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The Secretary of State had discussed the killing earlier that morning on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends.” On “Fox and Friends,” Pompeo stated that it’s still unclear whether the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, played a role in the brutal assassination of Khashoggi.
Pompeo remarked, “The murder of Jamal Khashoggi was a tragic incident. It was heinous. It is not something America approves of. But America has an important ally in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.” Referring to the Secretary of State’s comments, Brzezinski stated, “I understand that Donald Trump doesn’t care. … He doesn’t care. But why doesn’t Mike Pompeo care right now? Are the pathetic deflections that we just heard — when he appeared on ‘Fox & Friends’ —is that a patriot speaking? Or a wannabe dictator’s butt-boy?”
After coming under attack for her remarks, Brzezinski quickly tweeted an apology. In the tweet, she rationalized the incident as a “SUPER BAD choice of words…I should have said ‘water boy’… like for football teams or something like that.”
According to Newsmax, the MSNBC host took Thursday off due to a conspicuous “long-planned family event.” Apparently sensing her remorseful tweet wasn’t enough, a beleaguered Brzezinski started the December 14th broadcast of “Morning Joe” with a public, blanket apology to “everyone.” The new wife of “Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough emphatically stated, “I want to get to something first. I was off yesterday for a family matter … but I wanted to address a term that I used on this show on Wednesday that was vulgar. I knew it right away and I tweeted that it was a terrible choice of words and that I was sorry.”
Continuing, Brzezinski said, “But please allow me to say this face-to-face: the term is crass and offensive and I apologize to everyone, especially the LGBTQ community and to my colleagues for using it. It was a mistake. My father would have found it so unbecoming and disrespectful and he would have told me. I will work hard to be better. But I just wanted to say on camera, looking the viewers straight in the eye, I am really, really sorry.” Interestingly, the MSNBC host didn’t mention the person she directly insulted, Pompeo, in her apology.
Trump excoriated Brzezinski for her offensive remarks in a tweet on December 13 according to Newsmax. The President rightfully tweeted, “If it was a Conservative that said what ‘crazed’ Mika Brzezinski stated on her show yesterday, using a certain horrible term, that person would be banned permanently from television….,”
Earlier this year, former Fox News host Megyn Kelly was booted off her NBC morning show for saying she didn’t see anything wrong with dressing up in blackface for Halloween.
Unlike hyper politically correct liberals, conservatives typically don’t call for someone to get fired for sharing their opinions about others, regardless of how offensive or inaccurate they might be. Mere hours after Brzezinski made her gaffe, Fox News host Sean Hannity covered the incident in depth on his nightly show according to Mediaite. The conservative Fox News host, a strong supporter of the President, defended the MSNBC host’s apology and pushed back against those he feels are “trying to destroy her career” over the Pompeo statement.
Hannity introduced Brzezinski’s Pompeo insult by commenting that the “Morning Joe” hosts “literally spend hours every single day trying to outdo themself, trading insults about Donald Trump, the Trump family, and anyone associated with Trump.” The Fox and Friends host went on to say, “It’s a pretty sad and scary way to start your morning, but today co-host Mika Brzezinski went too far, and used this pretty disgusting slur.”
Defending Brzezinski, Hannity stated, “But we’re consistent on this program. We don’t call for boycotts, we don’t call for firings of any kind.” Hannity said, “I’m not the thought police, I’m not the speech police.” The Fox News host also commented that demanding people lose their jobs over comments deemed offensive is a troubling trend happening all over the media today.
