‘It Was Offensive’: Steve Martin Apologises for Racist Tweet After Fan Outcry
Daily Mail (London), December 23, 2013
Steve Martin apologised for a racist joke he tweeted on Friday night.
The comedian was fielding lighthearted questions from his Twitter followers about word usage, when someone asked: ‘Is this how you spell Lasonia (pasta)?’
Martin replied: ‘It depends. Are you in an African-American restaurant or at an Italian restaurant?’
A follower quickly called him on the racist nature of the tweet.
Martin replied to the user with a simple and succint ‘I’m sorry’ and swiftly removed the offending post.
Sorry about that. RT @illmami: I'm not totally offended but I don't want to be the one saying it. It was witty. But nawl. Not today.
— Steve Martin (@SteveMartinToGo) December 21, 2013
But by then the tweet had gone viral and was deemed offensive by many Twitter users, including one, who sent a tweet to Martin saying, ‘Are you going to act like that tweet doesn’t exist @SteveMartinToGo? We all saw it. Very disappointing’ then, adding two other users to the conversation, added ‘An apology would go a long way. He deleted the tweet.’
At this point Martin issued another, more fervent apology:
I did apologize. But again, a second later I realized what an offensive thing I'd done. Deep bow. @JustCindeh
— Steve Martin (@SteveMartinToGo) December 21, 2013
That was retweeted by a user, preceeded by the comment ‘To say the least’ and received a reply from Martin saying ‘Yeah, I learned that.’
Many of Martin’s followers came to his defense as well, some saying they found the comment funny, others saying they were not offended and one using the term ‘Hyper-sensitivity bull — -.’
One user may have had the last laugh with this tweet: ‘I know a woman in PR who could help you out. Real expert in this stuff. Her name is Justine Sacco’, referring to the PR executive who tweeted a racist remark regarding AIDS and Africa last week.
