The 2 a.m. apology rewrite that saved my band's reputation

Our drummer went viral for the wrong reasons, a racist joke from 2011 resurfaced and he posted a classic non-apology. I sat him down and made him rewrite it with specific actions, not feelings: naming the venue, the exact joke, and what he'd do next. He added a $500 donation to a local youth music program in Austin and it flipped the comment section from hate to support. Does anyone else think real apologies need a cost attached, or is that just buying forgiveness?

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green.noah8d ago

Man, that's a wild story and honestly the $500 was the smartest move he could've made, it gave people something real to point at instead of just words. I read somewhere that apologies only work when they cost you something, and that donation proved he got it.