Cindy Hyde-Smith clarifying what she was apologizing for; she’s sorry if she hurt anybody’s feelings.
To decode:
If jokes about public hanging offend you, the fault lies with you.
pic.twitter.com/6z94BeEapB— BallsOut 🌊 (@bjcreigh) November 24, 2018
Mississippi Senate candidate Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) refused over the weekend to explain why her remark about public hangings was offensive to African-Americans.
During a campaign stop on Saturday, NBC's Vaughn Hilyard caught up with Hyde-Smith and asked her to articulate why she felt the need to apologize after telling a supporter that she would attend a "public hanging" if he invited her.
"[People] were questioning what you were apologizing for," Hilyard noted. "Could you clarify and articulate what it was you were apologizing for?"
"If I hurt anybody's feelings!" Hyde-Smith replied. "You know, we're just staying on the issues that are on people's minds. That is lower taxes, less regulation -- you know, Second Amendment. All of those things."
"So, you know, just anytime I've said anything that somebody got offended, I want to apologize," she added.
"Could you acknowledge what offended people?" the NBC reporter pressed.
"You would have to ask [them]," Smith insisted. "I just apologized for anything I could have possibly said."