Why Joe (and Kanye and Serena) Won’t Apologize

Kanye West has tried to apologize twice, once on his blog and once on Jay Leno. He blew it both times. In each case he referred to having stolen Taylor’s moment. West doesn’t understand that what he did was wrong, threatening and self-centered. He simply acknowledged that his completely narcissistic behavior cut into another celebrity’s moment of self-centeredness!

Ms. Williams, having nobody famous to whom to apologize, has yet to properly acknowledge the implications of threatening a line judge with bodily harm. Like Mr. West, Ms. Williams fails to understand that it doesn’t matter how much pressure she was under, it’s not about her! She was wrong and she should simply say that, apologize for it and shut up. The storm would pass and she would be forgiven. But that seems to be beyond her.

Apparently, it’s beyond Joe Wilson also. He apologized to the President and he has no plans to apologize any more, not to his colleagues and not to anyone else. Like Kanye West, Wilson seems to think that his words caused a personal hurt to the President and he is willing to apologize for that, but not for anything else. —Brad Hirschfield

Last night I came across the text of the statement by Serena Williams, which a headline writer had identified as an “apology,” but the statement begins by praising Serena for her passion, it repeats the claim that the judge’s call was unfair, it confuses the concepts of “passion and emotion” and “foul-mouthed tantrum,” and it imagines that the continued adoration of her “fans and supporters” — rather than any change on her part — will help her to “move forward and grow”.

Last night everyone could truly see the passion I have for my job. Now that I have had time to gain my composure, I can see that while I don’t agree with the unfair line call, in the heat of battle I let my passion and emotion get the better of me and as a result handled the situation poorly. I would like to thank my fans and supporters for understanding that I am human and I look forward to continuing the journey, both professionally and personally, with you all as I move forward and grow from this experience. —Serena Williams Issues Apology Statement

2 thoughts on “Why Joe (and Kanye and Serena) Won’t Apologize

  1. When I initially posted this entry, I forgot to indent the quote from Brad Hirshfield; I did include his name and the link, but it may not have been clear that his name was there because he wrote the whole first section. Sorry for the confusion.

  2. I posted a bit of a rant on my blog inspired by the events in your post. The lack of sincerity in the “apologies” certainly says something about the public figures in our culture. And I liked that you mentioned the never ending circle of self-centeredness…oh what role models!

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