Mika Brzezinski Apologizes On-Air For 'Butt Boy' Slur: 'I Am Really, Really Sorry'

MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski apologized on Friday after an uproar over her homophobic on-air slur of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as a “wannabe dictator’s butt boy.”

“I wanted to address a term that I used on this show on Wednesday that was vulgar,” the “Morning Joe” co-host told viewers. “I knew it right away, and I tweeted that it was a terrible choice of words and that I was sorry.”

Continuing the mea culpa, Brzezinski acknowledged that her remark was out of line, and that her own family would have disapproved.

But please allow me to say this face to face: The term is crass and offensive and I apologize to everyone, especially the LGBTQ community and to my colleagues for using it. It was a mistake. My father would have found it so unbecoming and disrespectful and he would have told me. I will work hard to be better. But I just want to say on camera looking viewers straight in the eye, I am really, really sorry.

The trouble began after a Fox News interview with Pompeo in which he failed to take a strong stance on the brutal killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which the CIA has concluded was directed by Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammad bin Salman. Brzezinski, on her show, then ripped into the secretary of state with her crass comment.

“I understand that Donald Trump doesn’t care,” Brzezinski said on “Morning Joe.” “But why doesn’t Mike Pompeo care right now? Are the pathetic deflections that we just heard when he appeared on ‘Fox & Friends’ ― is that a patriot speaking or a wannabe dictator’s butt boy?”

To her credit, Brzezinski quickly apologized on Twitter, acknowledging it was a “SUPER BAD choice of words.”

However, she didn’t escape the fury of Trump, who on Thursday tweeted that she was “crazed,” and suggested she should be fired.

Brzezinski took Thursday as a pre-scheduled day off from work.