Joy Reid, who hosts her own political talk show on MSNBC, has apologized for her anti-gay comments in the past. (Image courtesy of Shareblue Media)
MSNBC host Joy Reid has denied authoring a series of homophobic posts found on her old blog, saying the newly discovered content was “fabricated” by a third-party.
In a statement to Mediate, who obtained the offensive posts, Reid claims the writings from “The Reid Report” were put up there by an “external party” that “… manipulated material from my now-defunct blog.” The posts included everything from defending homophobic behavior to outwardly mocking gay people and homosexuality.
“In December I learned that an unknown external party accessed and manipulated material from my now–defunct blog, ‘The Reid Report,’ [to] include offensive and hateful references that are fabricated and run counter to my personal beliefs and ideology,” Reid wrote in her statement. “…The manipulated material seems to be part of an effort to taint my character with false information by distorting a blog that ended a decade ago.”
“Now that my site has been compromised, I can state unequivocally that it doesn’t represent the original entries,” she added. “I hope that whoever corrupted the site recognizes the pain they have caused, not just to me, but to my family and communities that I care deeply about.”
According to Mediaite, Reid has previously apologized for anti-gay writings that were published on a blog she ran long before her time on MSNBC. However, Reid said the new posts discouraging gay marriage and cringing “at the sight of two men kissing” are all part of a sick effort to depict her as “offensive and hateful.”
The homophobic articles from “The Reid Report,” which pre-dated her MSNBC show of the same name, were first shared on Twitter by user Jaime_Maz, who managed to dig them up using an Internet archiving platform called Wayback Machine, the news site reported.
Thread – 1/x Joy Reid's homophobic blog posts were far worse than 1st reported.
They also had nothing to do with Republican hypocrisy on gay marriage. Joy also opposed gay marriage at the time. She gleefully accused people of being gay and posted a number of questionable things. pic.twitter.com/ZloivXczTS
— Autonomous Zone diet (@Jamie_Maz) April 18, 2018
While Maz provided links to each of the offensive posts, the blog or its archived pages are no longer accessible. It seems the Wayback Machine links somehow disappeared after Mediaite’s initial story on Reid’s homophobic comments toward Florida Congressman Charlie Crist, who isn’t actually gay.
“I deeply apologize to Congressman Crist, who was the target of my thoughtlessness,” Reid said in December. “My critique of anti-LGBT positions he once held but has since abandoned was legitimate in my view. My means of critiquing were not.”
