British journalist Martin Bashir has been forced to apologise over recent comments he made towards erstwhile vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
On Friday, the MSNBC host thought it apt to suggest that someone should defecate in the former Alaskan governor's mouth after she made a bizarre comparison between the US national debt and slavery - itself a fairly offensive statement but one that would barely trouble Palin’s top 20.
Still, it was enough for Bashir to call Mama Grizzly a "world class idiot", before quipping that the "Going Rogue" author should take a "sh*t in the mouth" by way of a rambling explanation about slave punishment. Even for American cable news this is strong stuff, and Bashir, no doubt reprimanded by ‘upstairs’, gave a grovelling apology for his "deeply offensive" comments on his Monday afternoon show.
"I wanted to take this opportunity to say sorry to Mrs. Palin and to also offer an unreserved apology to her friends and family, her supporters, our viewers, and anyone who may have heard what I said," the MSNBC host said. "My words were wholly unacceptable. They were neither accurate, nor fair. They were unworthy of anyone who would claim to have an interest in politics. And they have brought shame upon my friends and colleagues at this network, none of whom were responsible for the things that I said, and at a place where we try every day to elevate political discourse and to focus on issues that matter to all of us."
We await Palin’s response, which will hopefully come in the form of a Facebook update replete with a picture of the carcass of a freshly-killed mammal.