Blake Shelton and the epidemic of the non-apology

Back in 2009, a then-16-year-old Miley Cyrus posed with a group of friends, one of them Asian no less, pulling her eyes so that they looked slanted. Cringe level to infinity. When called out on it, she said she was sorry IF the photo offended anyone and claimed she was simply “making a goofy face.” Oh child.

In what was clearly a proud parenting moment, Madonna posted a photo of Rocco Ritchie training with a boxing coach, using a hashtag that involved the N-word in 2014. After her followers were like “WHAT UP?” she finally issued a half-assed apology, again IF she offended anyone and to say she is not a racist. Whatever you say lady.

Jeremy Renner is a sexist POS; recall if you will his comment re: Jennifer Lopez’s “golden globes” when he presented with her at said awards show in 2015. Later that year while promoting The Avengers: Age of Ultron, he did an interview with Chris Evans during which he called Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson’s character) a “slut” and a “whore.” These two asshats cracked themselves up. Though Evans did ultimately apologize in an accountable way, Renner offered up the usual boiler plate, “sorry that this tasteless joke about a fictional character offended anyone.” Just because she’s fictional doesn’t make flippant usage of these words OK dude. SMH.

We don’t understand why any woman would refuse to align herself with the word ‘feminist.’ But when C-lister Kaley Cuoco distanced herself from the cause in an interview with Redbook last year, she took to Instagram to explain herself. First she blamed the media (out of context…blah, blah) then she said that anyone who truly knows her would realize she doesn’t dismiss the progress that has been made and of course, IF you were offended? SORRRRY.

When news broke that I Am Cait was cancelled, Bette Middler wondered on Twitter if Cait was going to go back to being Bruce and if a reunion with Kris was imminent. Given that Midler was thought to be a friend to the LBGT community, her thoughts were not well received. She issued an apology for the “idle musing.” But by saying she “misread the temper of the times” she’s basically saying everyone is just too GD sensitive. So, not really sorry.

Lastly, we have Justin Timberlake, perhaps one of the biggest non-apologists and all around narcissists out there today. I mean, there’s 2004’s wardrobe malfunction, then 2012’s homeless people video at his wedding (his apology REALLY sucked for that one) and more recently he got into trouble after tweeting about Jesse Williams speech at this year’s BET Awards. It started innocently enough, saying he felt inspired, but it quickly went downhill, when followers called him out for appropriating black culture. First he got condescending but then he just back pedaled with an apology to anyone who felt he was “out of turn.” JT will never admit he actually did something wrong, straight up.