MSNBC Absolves Joy Reid of ‘Hateful’ Writings

MSNBC issued a statement Friday absolving host Joy Reid of writing “hateful” blog posts — and does not address the FBI investigation that Reid claimed to have initiated in April while claiming that a hacker wrote politically toxic sentiments on her old website The Reid Report.

“Some of the things written by Joy on her old blog are obviously hateful and hurtful,” the statement reads. “They are not reflective of the colleague and friend we have known at MSNBC for the past seven years. Joy has apologized publically and privately and said she has grown and evolved in the many years since, and we know this to be true.”

Earlier, Reid issued an apology for old blog posts featuring 9/11 conspiracy theories, praise for anti-Semitic statements from Iran’s former president, and a photoshopped image of Sen. John McCain depicted as the Virginia Tech gunman.

“While I published my blog, starting in 2005, I wrote thousands of posts in real time on the issues of the day,” the MSNBC host said in a statement.

“There are things I deeply regret and am embarrassed by, things I would have said differently and issues where my position has changed. Today I’m sincerely apologizing again.

“To be clear, I have the highest respect for Sen. McCain as a public servant and patriot and wish him and his family the best. I have reached out to Meghan McCain and will continue to do so. She is a former on-air colleague and I feel deeply for her and her family. I’ve also spoken openly about my evolution on many issues and know that I’m a better person today than I was over a decade ago. I am the daughter of immigrants and have worked to be a strong ally of these communities. There is no question in my mind that Al Qaeda perpetrated the 9/11 attacks or about Israel’s right to its sovereignty.”

Reid also fails to provide an update on the FBI investigation that her lawyer claimed would take place back when she was scrambling to deny that she wrote blog entries full of anti-gay statements.