Actor and comedian D.L. Hughley apologized on Wednesday after he defended actor Columbus Short against domestic violence allegations by slamming Short’s estranged wife as a “thirsty” gold-digger who should be more considerate of Short’s carder
Serious allegations have come up against the former “Scandal” star, as his estranged wife Tanee McCall accused him of holding a knife to her throat, threatening to kill her, and most recently, of breaking in to the family home.
Days after Short was fired from the hit TV show, Hughley came to his defense, calling McCall a “thirsty b***h” and saying that she’s going to wish she kept silent about the domestic abuse.
“There are just as many examples of women lying on men in the middle of divorce proceedings to get what they want as there are men who actually do anything,” Hughley said during his online radio show.“My point is if he did what she’s alleging he did, she could still get all that she’s going to have and not bring it up now, when it damages his market value that she’s going to be impacted by. If he loses that job, nobody’s living in Calabasas anymore.”
He went on to say that “women always running out the mouth when they shouldn’t” before he added, “The b***h was thirsty.”
In addition to verbally attacking McCall and encouraging victims of domestic violence to be silent, Hughley suggested that Short should be excused for his actions because he is a “passionate dude” and McCall knew what kind of man she was getting in a relationship with.
Shortly after the comments aired, Twitter was in an uproar and a petition circulated demanding that Hughley apologize for what followers referred to as “insensitive,” “ignorant” and “incredibly hurtful” comments.
“Last week during an after-show segment of my radio show, The D.L. Hughley Show, I unintentionally offended some people,” Hughley said in a statement that was released to BlackAmericaWeb. “In regards to Columbus Short’s legal issues, I jumped to a conclusion and blamed Tanee McCall-Short; and I’m sorry. My intent was not to quiet victims.”
On Wednesday night, he further emphasized that he never intended to condone violence.
He claimed that he had no idea how severe the situation was, and conceded that he should never have verbally attacked a woman who is allegedly already the victim of her husband’s abuse.
“My sole apology is that I put my mouth on a woman, who was in fact being victimized, and that it came off as me silencing victims,” he said. “Which, you know, that you were brutalized once and then I do it again…That was a comment I made, and putting my mouth on that woman was something I sincerely apologize for.”
“So I don’t condone violence,” he continued. “I’ve been married to a woman for 30 years. I can honestly say I’ve never physically abused anyone. … and I’ve never encouraged a woman to be silent deliberately about abuse.”
The lengthy apology continued on and ended with Hughley saying that he now “realizes that domestic violence isn’t something to joke about.”
