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But she did graciously apologize for her show.

“I am sorry. Without reservation or qualification. I apologize to the Romney family,” Harris-Perry said. “I work by the guiding principle that those who offend do not have the right to tell those they hurt that they [are] wrong for hurting. Therefore, while I meant no offense, I want to immediately apologize to the Romney family for hurting them. As a black child born into a large white Mormon family I feel familiarity w/ Romney family pic & never meant to suggest otherwise. I apologize to all families built on loving transracial adoptions who feel I degraded their lives or choices.”

“Whatever the intent, the segment proceeded in an unexpected way that was offensive,” she wrote. “Without reservation or qualification, I apologize to the Romney family and to all families built on loving transracial adoptions.”

I believe Harris-Perry’s apology was sincere.

Meanwhile, the underlying issue here is that Republicans have a serious diversity problem – and an ongoing racial insensitivity issue to acknowledge.

Where was the outrage from conservatives when Sen. Ted Cruz, speaking to a crowd in Houston, Texas earlier this year, took a

narrow-minded shot at President Obama’s struggling website launch for the Affordable Care Act and managed to insult black people on two continents.

“You may have noticed that all the Nigerian email scammers have become a lot less active lately,” Cruz told the audience. “They all have been hired to run the Obamacare website.”

By using “Nigerian” in his warped wisecrack, was Cruz deliberately trying to link Obama to scammers because Obama’s father is African? (Obama’s father is actually from Kenya, so perhaps Cruz also needs an Africa geography lesson.)

Or was Cruz trying to fire up his hate-filled conservative base by not-so-subtly introducing Obama’s African roots to the discussion of Obamacare, which Republicans are desperate to derail?

Cruz later explained that his ill-advised remark was simply a joke. And the GOP seemed satisfied with his explanation.

Meanwhile, for those who want Harris-Perry fired for joking about Romney, her apology may not have been necessary, but it was sincere.

And now it’s time to move on.

COMMENTARY: Melissa Harris-Perry Apologized; Critics Should Move On  was originally published on blackamericaweb.com

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