Fox News host Geraldo Rivera has apologized for his remarks about Trayvon Martin’s hoodie that ignited a media firestorm last week, reports
Politico.
“I have obscured the main point that someone shot and killed an unarmed teenager,” Rivera said in an email to
Politico Tuesday.
“I apologize to anyone offended by what one prominent black conservative called my ‘very practical and potentially life-saving campaign urging black and Hispanic parents not to let their children go around wearing hoodies,” Rivera wrote, in reference to a piece in the
National Review written by Thomas Sowell.
Rivera said that his apology was sincere and heartfelt and that he was only hoping to warn minority families of the danger to their young sons of certain clothing choices, like hoodies.
Rivera’s apology comes in the wake of his allegation on the air last week that Martin, a black unarmed teenager who was shot and killed by neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman, was killed because he had been wearing a hoodie.
“I am urging the parents of black and Latino youngsters particularly to not let their children go out wearing hoodies,” Rivera said on Fox and Friends last Friday. “I think the hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin’s death as George Zimmerman was.”
Rivera said that he remains steadfast in his belief that minority boys and young men should not provoke “mad responses” from “paranoid jerk offs” by their choice of clothing.
Rivera added, “My own family and friends believe [that] I have obscured or diverted attention from the principal fact, which is that an unarmed 17-year-old was shot dead by a man who was never seriously investigated by local police. And if that is true, I apologize.”
Rivera was likely referencing a tweet by his son that said he was ashamed of his father’s comments.
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