MSNBC’s Joy Reid: ‘I genuinely do not believe I wrote those hateful things’

MSNBC host Joy Reid said Saturday that she doesn’t believe she wrote the series of homophobic blog posts that were recently discovered under her name, but apologized for the controversy that erupted this week.

“Here’s what I know: I genuinely do not believe I wrote those hateful things,” she said on her show “AM Joy.” 

“But I can definitely understand based on things I have tweeted and have written in the past why some people don’t believe me,” she continued.

“I’ve not been exempt from being dumb or cruel or hurtful to the very people I want to advocate for — I own that, I get it — and for that I’m truly sorry.”

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Reid had previously blamed a possible hack for the blog posts but admitted Saturday that those looking into such claims have not found evidence to back them up.

“When a friend found them in December and sent them to me, I was stunned,” Reid said. “Frankly, I couldn’t imagine where they’d come from or whose voice this was. The reality is they have not been able to prove it.”

On Wednesday, Reid’s lawyer said the FBI was investigating the MSNBC host’s claims about a possible hack.

The Daily Beast said that it was going to temporarily suspend Reid’s columns while reporters for the site investigate her claims, and the site said in a report on its investigation that evidence provided for the hacking claims “crumbles under scrutiny.”

Conservative commentator Ann Coulter responded to a number of Reid’s newly resurfaced tweets from 2010 and 2011 in which she referred to Coulter as “that Coulter dude.”

Coulter this week questioned Reid’s ability to talk about black issues in the U.S. due to her parents being immigrants, according to The Wrap.

“I think MSNBC would be better off hiring an African American with roots in this country, instead of a 2d generation immigrant who poses as the oppressed descendant of American slaves,” Coulter told The Wrap.

Reid said Saturday that a friend “took [her] to task” for her tweets mocking Coulter.

“I want to apologize to the trans community and to Ann. Those tweets were wrong and horrible,” she said.

While Reid maintained she did not write the blog posts, she acknowledged that she had said anti-gay things in the past and promised to do better in the future.

“I’m heartbroken that I didn’t do better back then,” Reid said. “The reality is I have to own the things I’ve written and tweeted and said.”