Mark Halperin Attempts an Explanation for Why He Hasn’t Apologized Directly to His Accusers
Mark Halperin, the disgraced political commentator, addressed on Sunday a Washington Post report that noted he has yet to apologize to three women who accused him of sexual misconduct.
As reports detail Halperin’s attempts at a comeback, the Game Change author took to Twitter to say he hopes “to have a chance to apologize directly to those I treated badly.”
“It is the right and necessary thing to do,” he wrote. “I cannot imagine how difficult this experience has been for them.”
Halperin’s accusers, a series of women who alleged sexual misconduct when he was political director of ABC News in the 1990s, first came forward in October 2017. Three women who spoke to the Washington Post this week said Halperin never apologized to them.
I am deeply sorry and hope to have a chance to apologize directly to those I treated badly. It is the right and necessary thing to do. I cannot imagine how difficult this experience has been for them. 1/2 https://t.co/HqqdvCmM3Z
— Mark Halperin (@MarkHalperin) May 5, 2019
I hope this will be a further step in my continued efforts to fully comprehend and make amends for the pain that I have caused. 2/2 https://t.co/HqqdvCmM3Z
— Mark Halperin (@MarkHalperin) May 5, 2019
In two further tweets, Halperin wrote “it is vitally important for those victims to determine if, when, and how their harasser apologizes directly to them.”
“If they decline to hear directly, that must be respected,” he added.
I believe it is vitally important to protect the privacy of victims of sexual harassment. So let me just say this: I also believe it is vitally important for those victims to determine if, when, and how their harasser apologizes directly to them. 1/2 https://t.co/HqqdvCmM3Z
— Mark Halperin (@MarkHalperin) May 5, 2019
If they decline to hear directly, that must be respected. 2/2 https://t.co/HqqdvCmM3Z
— Mark Halperin (@MarkHalperin) May 5, 2019
The Daily Beast first reported on Halperin’s comeback attempts this week, which included help from MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, co-hosts of a show that once featured Halperin frequently, as well as his seeking a job at The Hill, and launching a political blog that no one asked for called “Mark Halperin’s Wide World of News.”
Dianna Goldberg May, who was a researcher at ABC News when she says Halperin repeatedly harassed her, told the Post, “It troubles me that he is more concerned with rehabilitating his career than demonstrating any semblance of understanding the gravity of the harm he caused so many women. And the fact that his friends in broadcast are enabling this effort is appalling. Mark is asking for a seat at a table in a profession where credibility and integrity are everything, now more than ever. I’m not convinced he has earned the right to occupy such a venerable position.”
Eleanor McManus, another of Halperin’s accusers, also knocked his attempts at a comeback to the Post: “Halperin used his status as a powerful journalist to victimize women, so why should he have that power again? Giving a serial harasser a platform to be in the public spotlight again only hurts all the women he has victimized. Those who enable it are on the wrong side of history.”
