An Apologetic Norm Macdonald Tries To Get Things Right On ‘The View’

After apologizing for “minimizing the pain” of victims, comedian Norm Macdonald explains his controversial comments on the backlash to Louis C.K. and Roseanne Barr. https://t.co/cqQCWsWYDv pic.twitter.com/fQlwomxVGv

— The View (@TheView) September 13, 2018

Toward the end of a week in which his comments about Roseanne Barr, Louis C.K., Chris Hardwick and the #MeToo movement have been criticized, Norm Macdonald appeared on Thursday’s The View to explain himself. The Saturday Night Live alum and Norm Macdonald Has a Show star appeared apologetic throughout the segment, though he also stood his ground on a few points, especially those that were raised by co-host Joy Behar.

“You kind of lose me when you imply that the hardship that your friend Louis C.K. [went] through is equal to the hardship that the victims went through,” said Behar. “That doesn’t compute. Can you explain yourself” In response, Macdonald said “that’s not what I was saying.” He then tried to offer a clearer explanation:

“When this went down with Roseanne I called her the next day and she was crying the whole time. I was worried about her. She seemed really in a bad place. I said, ‘I can’t talk to you about this, I’ve never been through anything like this’ and I know Louis and he’s been through this and has had everything taken from him… you should talk.’ And [the reporter asked,] ‘What about the victims’ and I said, ‘Well, the victims haven’t gone through this. This particular event. Of course, the victims have gone through worse than that. But am I going to get a victim to phone Roseanne”

While these comments did provide some context for Macdonald’s initial controversy, which The View co-hosts acknowledged, it didn’t explain the comedian’s quips about his The Tonight Show appearance being canceled on a recent episode of The Howard Stern Show.

Specifically, Behar and company were curious about Macdonald’s bit that “you’d have to have Down syndrome” not to feel sorry for C.K.’s victims:

“It’s always bad when you have to apologize for the apology. There used to be a word we would all say to mean stupid that we wouldn’t say any more. You know the word I’m talking about Stupidly I was about to say that word and I stopped and [wondered] what the right word was to say, and I said a different word that was equally [offensive]. I realized at that moment I said something unforgivable… The remark I made about people with Down syndrome is terrible.”

So yeah, there’s that.