That influencer apology for the blackface photo felt like a business memo

I was scrolling through old apology videos and landed on one from a beauty guru who posted in 2020. She straight up said 'I apologize for any harm caused' instead of actually naming what she did, which felt super fake to me. Do you think vague apologies like that ever actually work or do people just move on because they have to?

2 comments

2 Comments

kai_burns7323d ago

Vague apologies usually feel hollow because they're designed to protect the person, not the people hurt. That specific "any harm caused" line shifts blame away from the action and onto the reaction, which is a cop out. But sometimes they do work in the short term because fans want to forget it happened. The ones that actually stick are where someone names the exact thing they did wrong and promises to change. Like when that one guy from the baking show came out and said "I dressed up as a stereotype in 2014 and it was wrong" instead of dancing around it. That kind of directness at least shows some self awareness, even if it's late.

emmaking23d ago

Oof, that "any harm caused" line hits different when you've used it yourself lol. I once apologized to a friend for bailing on plans and said "sorry if my canceling messed anything up" and they called me out immediately. Straight up said that sounds like I'm blaming them for being annoyed instead of owning it. Which honestly fair, I was trying to avoid the awkwardness. But yeah that baking show guy nailed it. I remember thinking "wow he actually said the thing he did instead of hiding behind corporate buzzwords." Makes me wonder how many times I've done the vague apology thing without realizing. Probably a lot lmao.