Lawrence O'Donnell Apologizes To Michael Steele (VIDEO)

MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell apologized to RNC chair Michael Steele Wednesday night for describing the RNC as his "master."

Steele, who is black, found the word "master" offensive due to its connotations of slavery.

"As the first congressional election during his party chairmanship approaches, Michael Steele is dancing as fast as he can, trying to charm independent voters and tea partiers while never losing sight of his real master and paycheck provider: the Republican National Committee," O'Donnell said on Tuesday's program.

After receiving a call from Steele expressing his offense, O'Donnell said he "called him back immediately and apologized for using the word he found offensive.

"Those of us who are not descendants from slaves can never know the full impact of the word master in the ears of an African-American man. Michael Steele told me, 'It sort of stung.'"

O'Donnell said he invited Steele on "The Last Word" Thursday to apologize in person, but Steele said it wouldn't be necessary.

"I am honored that Michael Steele believes me to be the kind of person he can call to explain his hurt and politely request and expect an apology," he added. "Mr. Chairman, I sincerely apologize."

WATCH:

Comments

[Bodega Express]

08:18 PM on 11/11/2010

I HEART LARRY O'DONNELL.

http://bodegaexpress.wordpress.com/2010/11/07/lfo/

[Jon Rudolf]

04:21 PM on 10/15/2010

Lawrence O'Donnell is all class. I want to see more journalists like him.

[SoccerNana]

09:58 PM on 10/11/2010

Interesting; no "if I offended anyone"; a straight forward, sincere apology. That's the way to "man -up" to your misstep, mistake, whatever you want to label it.

Lawrence O'Donnell, a man of integrity.

[demomntgirl]

09:30 PM on 10/11/2010

Why is it that Steele never believes anything with a racist connotation
this is aimed at the President....
is EVER meant that way!
And as a black man....
those comments made about the President...
by Republicans.....
never offends him at all??
I find that interesting......

[IslandGyal]

10:22 AM on 10/12/2010

Well articulated . . . .

[TheKurgan9]

10:38 PM on 10/21/2010

Because the president is half wh|te - I know, you forgot!

Also, what about the rac.ist remarks made BY the president? Calling his grandmother "A typical wh}te person" From his book "Audacity of Hope" comes "Whi{te man's greed in a wor|d in need"

Oh, yeah and of course, the president's church - of course we all believe him when he said that he never heard Pastor Wright say anything rac.ist...course not. Never in all the years he attended...Oh wait, didn't the president say he would never be able to leave a man like Pastor Wright? What did he ultimately do? Sold Pastor Wright down the river is what he did....

Wake up man....If you are going to accuse Michael Steele - look at the man in the Whi{te House first...the buck is suppose to stop with him!

[RABSR]

08:22 PM on 10/11/2010

All of 10 minutes with his own cable show and he “accidentally” makes the most obvious racial comments imaginable.

MSDNC had to put someone in the slot; dead air just wouldn’t have looked good.

Actually, they may have gotten higher ratings if they just re-aired sessions of C-Span.

I caught him on the “Morning Joe” show, when Mika keeps her mouth shut long enough for me to stomach the show, when they had to literally shut him up and go to commercial.

What is wrong with this network? Even Chris Matthews is trying to run his butt back to the center. It won’t matter; He outed himself as the biased Leftists he is. I’ll never trust him again. Too bad, there was a time I really enjoyed him.

[demomntgirl]

09:36 PM on 10/11/2010

yeah....right!! LOL
And that would be....
way over from the the right!!!!

You made a left turn some where...
go back....
go back!!!!

We love you LAWRENCE....
from way over on the left!!!!!!!

[RABSR]

10:28 PM on 10/11/2010

Many of you call me a "troll".

I respond by referring to you as a “frog”.

Put a frog in a pot and turn up the heat – they will eventually cook.

Some will hop out, most just stay and become dinner.

Personally I enjoy frog legs and no, they don’t taste like chicken.

For those of you who are die-hard “Statists”, “Socialists”, and “Marxists”, I get it.

Those of you who are not, please take a hard look at what is going on.

Think.

Analyze.

Reflect.

[SoccerNana]

10:00 PM on 10/11/2010

Fixed Noise.

[Slash14]

08:12 PM on 10/11/2010

I dislike MSNBC and all it's shows and host. But I think that Lawrence was fair and did a good job. I respect him for his courage and honesty

[BocaMom]

07:14 PM on 10/11/2010

I have new respect for Michael Steele.

[free thinker 3-5-7]

11:46 AM on 10/11/2010

That was very classy on Steele's part. Im sure he would have been on every Fox show if he would have wanted to. It's good to see that progressives are intelligent enough to apologize when they are wrong, unlike conservitives who will say "what I said what taken out of context", or "he is inciting racism" after they made the perceived racist remark. MSNBC IS THE S**T

[Egnod]

09:11 AM on 10/11/2010

I'm glad Steele was big enough to talk with O'Donnell directly instead running to Fox to air his grievance. Steele seems to have accepted the apology graciously and let it go.

[rview]

12:37 AM on 10/11/2010

Call me a cynic. I don't know if he is morally astute or just smart to preemptively killing something that might have killed him. No one will ever know.

I'm really surprised by Michael Steele though. I really didn't like him until hearing about this. I think I'll give him another chance.

[famished]

11:20 PM on 10/10/2010

So nicely done. Truly a class act. Should really be in the West Wing.

[sailor422]

09:31 PM on 10/10/2010

I can't think of a single right wing pundit that would do the same with all the straight forward simplicity.

[SoccerNana]

10:02 PM on 10/11/2010

That's because there aren't any. They would say "if I offended anyone".

[anothervoter]

06:01 PM on 10/10/2010

The right thing to do.
Instead of " I apologize to those who might be offended by my remarks..."

+1 for Lawrence.

[mirodog]

05:30 PM on 10/10/2010

I often disagree with O'Donnell but I'll admit he's a class act (and he's a bit more objective on political issues than most of MSNBC and Fox analysts are).

[IndependentInChicago]

05:16 PM on 10/10/2010

That is what an apology looks like. Not I'm sorry "if you were offended" which we hear so often. Class act LO'D.