MSNBC breaks silence on star Joy Reid’s ‘hateful’ blog posts: ‘She has grown and evolved’

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Remember when Joy Reid claimed she was victim of hackers?

MSNBC's Joy Reid now says she's 'embarrassed

MSNBC star Joy Reid said in a statement Friday she was "embarrassed" by "hateful" posts unearthed on her now-defunct blog, but failed to acknowledge her previous claims that a hacker planted some of the offensive content, while her network offered her its support.

“While I published my blog, starting in 2005, I wrote thousands of posts in real time on the issues of the day. 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,” Reid said in a statement provided to Fox News. “I’m sorry for the collateral damage and pain this is causing individuals and communities caught in the crossfire.”

'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.'

— Joy Reid

MSNBC issued the following statement after weeks of silence on the issue: “Some of the things written by Joy on her old blog are obviously hateful and hurtful. They are not reflective of the colleague and friend we have known at MSNBC for the past seven years. Joy has apologized publicly and privately and said she has grown and evolved in the many years since, and we know this to be true”

Comments dug up by a Twitter user and published by Mediaite in December showed that she wrote numerous offensive jokes and comments several years ago about gay people on her old blog, “The Reid Report.” She initially apologized, but when a second batch of offensive comments surfaced ‒ about some lesbians' short haircuts and her objections to seeing men kiss men, among other homophobic remarks ‒ Reid originally claimed she’d been hacked, and MSNBC circulated a much-panned statement from a computer hacking “expert” which sought to make that case.

MSNBC star Joy Reid has not addressed her claim that hackers planted hateful rhetoric on her blog.

In April, Reid got emotional on the air when her hacking claim fell apart and admitted it seemed unlikely she was hacked, but claimed that she didn’t recall making the offensive remarks, for which she apologized anyway.

This week, additional posts from her pre-fame blog were unearthed by BuzzFeed, The Daily Wire and “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” which included the MSNBC star encouraging readers to check out “Loose Change,” a documentary on a conspiracy theory that alleges the tragic attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, were planned by the United States government and Senator John McCain’s head photoshopped onto the body of the Virginia Tech shooter.

The new batch of posts also revealed that Reid used to tout “America First” immigration policies and made anti-Semitic comments. Carlson revealed that Reid’s blog argued that, among other things, native-born Americans, not “low-paid Mexican workers” should rebuild New Orleans, agreed with Lou Dobbs on immigration, and even criticized flying the Mexican flag on U.S. soil.

'There is no question in my mind that Al Qaeda perpetrated the 9/11 attacks or about Israel’s right to its sovereignty.'

— Joy Reid

“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,” Reid’s statement continued. “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. I believe the totality of my work attests to my ideals and I continue to grow every day.”

Critics were quick to criticize Reid’s apology for not mentioning the dubious hacker claims – for which she reportedly alerted the FBI about the hacking “crime.”

Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano said the MSNBC host “could be in very serious trouble” if she made up a story about hackers planting the hateful blog posts that resulted in an FBI investigation. Reid could even be charged with obstruction of justice for “diverting the FBI’s attention from real crimefighting to fighting a phantom crime,” Napolitano said.

MSNBC and NBCUniversal did not immediately respond when asked whether or not the company has ruled out her Reid’s hacker claim.

The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Shortly after MSNBC broke its silence on Reid’s now-defunct blog on Friday, The Daily Beast published a report that several of her colleagues are angry at the way the situation was handled.

MSNBC did not respond to a request for comment regarding the report in The Daily Beast.