MSNBC Apologizes for Insensitive Segment on Cinco de Mayo

On Monday morning, MSNBC’s Way Too Early came under fire for a short segment celebrating Cinco de Mayo by having Morning Joe producer Louis Burgdorf dance around in a sombrero, shaking a pair of maracas and pretending to down a bottle of tequila. The network apologized on Tuesday.

The segment became fodder for Twitter mockery, and drew the ire of Hugo Balta, the president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, who called it “abominable.”

As Huffington Post reports, MSNBC issued a statement apologizing for the segment:

“On Monday, Cinco De Mayo, ‘Way Too Early’ made sarcastic references to the way some Americans celebrate the holiday. It was not our intention to be disrespectful and we sincerely apologize for the ill-advised references.”

Watch the segment below, via MSNBC:

Update — May 7, 2014, 3:05 p.m. ET: Thomas Roberts and Burgdorf apologized on the air Wednesday morning:

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