Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski has apologized following statements she made on Friday morning’s show that were critical of some of the women who had accused ousted MSNBC journalist Mark Halperin of sexual harassment.
In a discussion on sexual harassment on Friday’s show, Brzezinski said that Halperin, a friend of hers, “is more than willing to meet with his accusers and apologize (to) them face–to-face.”
“I’ve actually tried to offer him to them,” Brzezinski said. “They don’t want to talk to him. They don’t want to talk to him.”
Those remarks sparked anger from 10 women who had accused Halperin of sexual harassment and Brzezinski issued a statement in response.
“We have been trying our best on Morning Joe to have an honest conversation about sexual harassment and sexual assault,” Brzezinski said in a statement. “The issue has hit close to home given that Mark Halperin was on our show. I have spent a lot of time talking to some of his accusers and to Mark himself. Often I bring up the issue on our show because I think it would be less than genuine to talk about the growing number of cases without recognizing that a former member of our team acted very badly.”
Halperin, a frequent guest on Morning Joe, was fired by MSNBC and NBC in October following a CNN report in which multiple women accused the veteran journalist of sexual harassment while he was at ABC News.
Brzezinski’s full statement is below:
“We have been trying our best on Morning Joe to have an honest conversation about sexual harassment and sexual assault,” Brzezinski said in a statement. “The issue has hit close to home given that Mark Halperin was on our show. I have spent a lot of time talking to some of his accusers and to Mark himself. Often I bring up the issue on our show because I think it would be less than genuine to talk about the growing number of cases without recognizing that a former member of our team acted very badly.”
“In our discussion about sexual harassment this morning, I said some things that hurt people,” she added. “In the case of Mark, my goal today was to start a conversation about hearing from the men whenever we can, but I realize that it is not my place. It isn’t my call to make, and for that I am truly sorry. As a victim of sexual assault, I understand that each individual’s case is different. This is up to the victims, some of whom I’ve been in contact with. My hope is for all of us to come together to support the brave women who speak out and help make workplaces safer as we continue this difficult conversation in the months and years ahead.”