After Hanks admitted to have used him 'as the punch line of an uncomfortable joke that was hardly funny and unfair,' O'Reilly accepts the apology as saying, 'Everybody makes mistakes.'
- Mar 22, 2012
AceShowbiz - Tom Hanks hasn't done apologizing for his blackface controversy. After admitting that the skit he did with the Eagles' Glenn Frey and a man in a black face when hosting a 2004 fundraising auction is "hideously offensive," the "Larry Crowne" star sent his apology to Bill O'Reilly for calling on the Fox News Channel's host in his joke.
"I used Bill O'Reilly as the punch line of an uncomfortable joke that was hardly funny and [was] unfair," the 55-year-old actor said in an e-mail he sent to The Daily Caller (TheDC) on Tuesday, March 20 night. "I have no reason to think Mr. O'Reilly would have found both the reason for the joke nor my use of it funny in any way."
O'Reilly himself has responded to Hanks' apology. Speaking to TheDC, the 62-year-old political commentator said, "I accept his apology - everybody makes mistakes." He continued on, "I don't think that Hanks had anything [in mind] other than trying to get a wise-guy line off. ... I don't hold it against him."
Hanks can be seen making a joke out of O'Reilly in a video that saw him, Frey and a man, who is dressed as an African native, at an event at the private St. Matthew's Parish School in Pacific Palisades. "Ladies and gentlemen, a celebrity in our midst! Who would have thought that Bill O'Reilly would join us?" he said while standing next to the man who is identified as investment banker James Montgomery.
The video itself was sent to TheDC in response to Hanks' involvement in an Obama campaign video, "The Road We've Traveled". It quickly drew criticisms given that Montgomery took the stage in blackface and an afro wig while holding a giant stuffed gorilla. Congress of Racial Equality spokesperson Niger Innis called it "orchestrated, heinous and racist."
Hanks has reacted to the controversy earlier on Tuesday. "For many years I emceed the annual fundraising auction for my kids' school," he said in a statement. "In 2004, I was blindsided when one of the parents got up on the stage in a costume that was hideously offensive then and is hideously offensive now. What is usually a night of food and drink for a good cause was, regrettably, marred by an appalling few moments."
