MSNBC Chief Phil Griffin Apologizes for ‘Outrageous’ Tweet; Dismisses Responsible Person

[alp227]

Source: Mediaite

Following the Republican National Committee’s announcement of a boycott of MSNBC in response to a tweet that suggested “the rightwing” would “hate” a commercial featuring a bi-racial couple, the network’s president Phil Griffin issued an apology.

The Cycle host Ari Melber read the statement on-air this afternoon:

“The tweet last night was outrageous and unacceptable. We immediately acknowledged it was offensive and wrong, apologized and deleted it. We have dismissed the person responsible for the tweet. I personally apologize to Mr. Priebus and to everyone offended. At MSNBC, we believe in passionate, strong debate about the issues, and we invite voices from all sides to participate. That will never change. Signed, Phil Griffin.”

Read more: http://www.mediaite.com/tv/msnbc-chief-phil-griffin-apologizes-for-outrageous-tweet-dismisses-responsible-person/

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BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

First they fired Martin Bashir for making a crude yet compelling response to Sarah Palin comparing Obamacare to slavery. Now all this drama over an innocent joke that reveals how (sadly, way too many) Americans on the right think? Phil Griffin is an incompetent boob who would rather let right wingers get an unearned win than stand up to their idiocy.

[monmouth3]

1. I would bet he and Joe are close friends. Phil needs to go..n/t

[Cha]

12. Phil did hire Joy Reid and Ronan Farrow.. and had great

things to say about them.. just sayin.

[Scairp]

44. Well they WILL hate it

The person was just telling a truth. Perhaps is was wrong to tweet that because wingers getting their panties in a bunch was rather predictable, but you don't fire someone for it. Why is MSNBC running scared from the crazy right? I don't get it. And I miss Martin Bashir a lot.

[elzenmahn]

53. Because the Crazy Right serves the interest of Corporate America...

...and don't kid yourself - MSNBC, like the rest of the media, is only as "liberal" as their CONSERVATIVE corporate ownership allows them to be (in this case, Comcast).

[KamaAina]

2. Buck-buck-BRAWWWK!!

[Akoto]

3. Sorry, but MSNBC's a business, too. No business would let that stand. n/t

[another_liberal]

10. Really?

Being "A business" makes sucking up to the Republicans at the expense of the American people OK?

[Akoto]

14. I'm simply acknowledging the realistic business response to such an unsanctioned statement. n/t

[another_liberal]

17. I see what you mean . . .

But this is not just any business, it is a major news source which is trusted by millions of people. They can't just practice "good business."

[90-percent]

57. unsanctioned?

the person that wrote it was doing the job they were hired to do, yes? That sounds pretty "sanctioned" to me.

Although I have not investigated the details.

next thing they'll fire somebody for giving driving directions:

"Do not take the first right turn." = grounds for dismissal.

-90%Jimmy

[whathehell]

58. Fox News is a business, too and I don't see them apologizing for anything..

Griffin is a craven suck up and so are all others who put "business" interests over

self-respect and principle.

[Blue_Tires]

62. +1

[rurallib]

29. Limbaugh's a business, FUX news is a business

they say shit like this all the time. Anybody ever get fired over there?

[blkmusclmachine]

40. NO WAY, because IOKIYAR!

[Ian David]

4. They should go ahead and make that damn commercial themselves before they apologize. n/t

[OneCrazyDiamond]

5. He is just being anti-fox news

Fox would have given who ever sent it a promotion. Maybe a time slot of their own.

[villager]

6. We need to contact Phil Griffin about his -- and MSNBC's -- overweening cowardice

I found this e-dress from a previous DU post:

[e-mail]

[elehhhhna]

42. bill gates probably demanded that. good luck.

[Dawson Leery]

7. Dead Intern Joe has a hand in all of this.

[another_liberal]

8. I admire the man, and agree with what he said.

Screw "Mr. Priebus," and the political party he rode in on.

[Botany]

9. "They" are upset over this tweet

“Maybe the rightwing will hate it, but everyone else will go awww: the adorable new #Cheerios ad
w/ biracial family,” the tweet read.

*********



The right wing has been working to keep people of color from having the same voting rights that
they enjoy for years and they are still doing that right now. Ever heard of Richard Nixon's "Southern
Strategy?" Which has been the foundation of the republican party for years and it now has a
bastard son called Fox News. Or how about Ronald Reagan starting his campaign in Neshoba County,
MS which has a very nasty history as per treatment of people of color.

The problem with so many people on "our side" is they back the hell down when the right wing
clutches it's pearls and hits the fainting couch about the nasty thing we liberal say. God damn it
the man spoke the truth that some right wingers will be upset over a nice imagine of a biracial
marriage.

We should all be jumping up and down and saying A TRUTH TWEET IS A SWEET THING MOTHERFUCKERS
AND IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT SHOW US WHERE IT WAS WRONG AND MR. RINSE PENIS WHAT ABOUT THE
VOTING LINE IN THE PICTURE BELOW? SO KISS MY ASS YOU PEARL CLUTCHING D-BAG! THE TRUTH
HURTS DOESN'T IT?

[Fred Sanders]

30. Touche, your sentiments are shared by many.

[The Wizard]

32. Mr. Penis can't take the truth (NT)

[adirondacker]

38. Post Rec! Well stated! nt

[blkmusclmachine]

41. When the GOP starts playing on a level playing field, call me. Until then...NO APOLOGIES!!!

[AlbertCat]

11. But the DO hate a commercial featuring a bi-racial couple already.

[OKNancy]

13. Everyone here with a twitter account needs to copy and paste

the tweet and add @MSNBC to it.

“Maybe the rightwing will hate it, but everyone else will go awww: the adorable new #Cheerios ad
w/ biracial family,”

[bitchkitty]

27. Thank you! n/t

[villager]

47. Done.

Good suggestion.

Let a thousand flowers bloom...

[Alamuti Lotus]

15. Operation: Give Republican Crybabies Everything They Want marches along.. :/

[another_liberal]

18. Makes ya want to puke . . .

Don't it?

[Alamuti Lotus]

20. "Lunches seized from Utah schoolkids" is still in the #1 Projectile Creation position

but this runs a close second. A more distant third place for the day of course is reserved for a semi-private matter here that I will not speak of, but it's overall been a real banner day for Puke Promotion. It's not even Friday, that's when the really nauseating stuff usually drops...

[whathehell]

63. I'm in a hotel now without MSNBC but I saw CNN run that story again..

These creeps actually THREW AWAY the lunches of kids who looked

about eight years old, rather than let those kids eat them, because their

parents were behind on their bill...You've got to be a REAL scumbag and, I

suspect, Right Wing Ideologue to do that and I'm NOT surprised it happened

in the most conservative state in the country.

The school did apologize -- bad PR, it seems -- but I'd love to know who name

and title of the bastard who ordered this.

[warrant46]

64. Its survival of the fittest

[whathehell]

65. In the jungle...

not, I should think, in modern, first world nations.

[silverweb]

16. Bad, bad precedent.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Now you've given the GOP editorial approval rights over your content.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, Griffin!

[SCVDem]

19. The last time Roger Ailes apologized was

Yeah, never!

It has never happened. Not for Beck, Hannity or any of the morning morons.

Definitely not for any offensive guests either.

[AAO]

61. Bullshit - he once apologized for farting in the fox lunchroom.

[Politicub]

21. I was hoping for an GOP-free election season on MSNBC

It would have been their loss.

Next I hope they get rid of Joe "as a conservative" Scarborough - but that's never going to happen.

[SoapBox]

22. Spineless fuck'n jellyfish!

Anyone know where we can find a backbone cheap? This wimp needs one.

p.s...another reason I stopped watching MSNBC.

[xxqqqzme]

23. Yep! Every time

M$NBC gives in to these RW assholes it just validates the ignorance they proudly spout. Does he think teabaggers are going to suddenly start watching because he caves?

[frylock]

24. that tweet was nowhere close to being offensive..

the only reason the right got wadded up is because it's the fucking truth. and nice job by griffin of perpetuating the myth that liberals will just roll over when commanded. fuckin bravo. clap. clap. clap.

[90-percent]

25. Frank Coniff's (TV's Frank) recent comment on FB

Last edited Fri Jan 31, 2014, 10:33 AM - Edit history (1)

Phil Griffin's latest apology to Reince Priebus makes me think that @MSNBC stands for Must Show No Balls Constantly.

-90% Jimmy

[elzenmahn]

55. There it is...

Last edited Sun Feb 16, 2014, 07:06 PM - Edit history (1)

...and they CAN'T show "balls", because of who owns them and funds them.

I've had it with MSNBC.

[heaven05]

26. another shameful

capitulation. what is wrong that these RW jerks deserve all this deference. It's truly mind boggling.

[Kelvin Mace]

28. Goddamn these people are spineless

I really wish we had that kind of power. We just bark on the media folds.

[Gothmog]

31. I did not find the substance of the tweet offensive

I really do not see anything wrong with the tweet

[PatrynXX]

33. well I told MSNBC thanks for becoming A&E

then I unfollowed them and tweeted the exact words of that tweet several times. compared to comparing Sandra Fluke to a sl** word even though I can swear here I won't. Rush is still working.. but someone states something that everyone else states and Phil has to apologize. clearly MSNBC is no longer a news outfit. well it hasn't been in sometime. all the proper news outfits are online. Huffingtonpost despite some problems in the comments sections is where I get my news. MSNBC just basically sealed the final nail in the coffin how the fact that the right is Racist is more offensive that saying Blacks enjoyed being beaten up, that 15-16 yr olds should marry and that Anus should be mentioned at all have no idea. So Conservatives are pussies

[PDittie]

34. The Tweet wasn't offensive in the least, and no one should have been fired

over it. Phil Griffin is a schlemiel to the craven right.

[SunSeeker]

35. +1

[blackspade]

36. Griffin is such a spineless douchebag.

Idiot...

[sakabatou]

48. +1

[Jack Rabbit]

37. This is very disappointing

The GOP has morphed from a conservative party that worried about taxes being too high to a far right party for whom any taxation (especially on the upper income brackets) is too high and appeals to the kind of reprobates who would have a problem with somebody else's relationship with someone of a different race, a different religion or the same sex.

The tweet in question didn't mention the GOP by name, just right wingers. If it had substituted Republicans for rightwing perhaps an apology would be in order, since not every Republican is Klansman or on the staff of Bob Jones University.

As it is, Mr. Griffin apologized to Mr. Priebus, who by demanding an apology made a tacit admission that the GOP appeals to racists, misogynists, sectarian bigots and others who claim to love America while hating most Americans.

Having been half of a racially mixed marriage for twenty years, one which produced two bi-racial children who are now adults. Now that Mr. Griffin has apologized to Mr. Priebus, I would like to see if he apologizes to me.

My response to the thread about the tweet is here.

[Doctor_J]

39. Easy for liberals to get fired from Big Media

[Paladin]

43. I'm going to be watching Facebook on Super Bowl Sunday and on subsequent days....

....and if I see the kind of ugly, right-wing responses I expect over the new cereal ad, I plan on making Phil Griffin aware of them. I am sick to death of liberal media people losing their jobs for actions that conservatives get away with on a daily basis.

[PearliePoo2]

50. Good on YOU!

That's a great plan and I doubt there will be any shortage of racist filth either!
Can you keep a tally of what you find and post some samples here so that those willing can send them to Mr. "Capitulate-In-Chief" Griffin?

[Paladin]

51. Will try to do so, and I invite others to do the same. (nt)

[AlinPA]

45. Aplologizing for the truth? That's bullshit. The rightwing hated the first commercial,

so they had a change and will now be OK with it? Now MSNBC is joining CNN and Fox 'news' as an RNC propaganda vehicle?

[ificandream]

46. He said nothing wrong ...

... and he gets fired. Why did MSNBC let the RNC wimp them out?

[Enthusiast]

49. The right wing is racist. They would purge the nation of minorities if they could.

That is just a fact. Too bad MSNBC can't face the truth.

[Liberalynn]

52. Why is an apology necessary

When you are just speaking the TRUTH!

[JustAnotherGen]

54. That's bananas

The tweet was true.

[PeteSelman]

56. Don't EVER tell the truth.

If you're supposedly on the left.

[maddiemom]

59. An offhand remark on a tweet by lower level employee. But Msnbc must make an apology. and even

FIRE the employee? Meanwhile on- air right wing celebrities constantly revile liberals and denigrate the POTUS (who gets the least respect from them of any president in history...and no, jokes about G.W, Bush were never comparable). From them we get the very occasional non-personal apology ( sorry if I offended anyone). why isn't the "left wing" media all over this imbalance?

[Paladin]

60. To MSNBC and you DU'ers doing the "We're So Sorry" tap dance:

Your choreography is being provided by Rep. Tim Huelskamp (Tea Party-Kansas). Read about it in today's "Salon."