Fox News pundit Geraldo Rivera has issued an apology – or at least a response – to critics of his recent comments on slain Florida teen Trayvon Martin.
Rivera now infamously said (below) that the unarmed 17-year-old’s hoodie was to blame for his death as much as George Zimmerman, who shot him.
Realizing how monumentally offensive, insensitive and just plain wrong that comment was, Rivera is now walking back the statement … partially.
Rivera is standing by his message, and saying that while others took it as pure flame-fanning, he saw it more as honest, accurate and a PSA of sorts.
“I apologize to anyone offended by what one prominent black conservative called my ‘very practical and potentially lifesaving campaign urging black and Hispanic parents not to let their children go around wearing hoodies,'” he told Politico.
“My own family and friends believe I obscured or diverted attention from the primary fact, which is that an unarmed 17-year-old was shot dead by a man who was never seriously investigated by local police. And if that is true, I apologize.”
But not, he continued, because he was incorrect.
“I remain absolutely convinced of what I said about asking for trouble. There’s enough trouble for minority boys not to provoke mad responses from paranoid jerk-offs.”
That should simmer everyone down. Probably. Maybe. Okay, not really.