My Bad: The Apology Anthology

by Arleen Sorkin, Arleen Sorkin

Updated to include new "[A] densely packed grab bag…an invaluable history lesson, reassuring in its lest-we-forgetness, riveting in its revelations."― Entertainment Weekly

With an additional 200 mind-boggling miscues and mealy-mouthed mea culpas, My Bad celebrates the best of this year's most exquisitely squirm-inducing pleas for forgiveness, from a variety of famous flubbers―Donald Rumsfield to Don Imus, Mel Gibson to Michael Richards―that proves public apologies are as American as pleading the Fifth.

Genres: Nonfiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Shameem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before I begin the review:

1. This book should probably come with trigger warnings. There’s enough content in here that could be upsetting to people who might benefit from a heads up. A lot of the apologies in here (and the incidents they are given for — which are explained) relate to racism, sexism, sexual assault, and other criminal behavior. There are references to the KKK and the holocaust, as well. So please consider this the trigger warning.

2. My rating of this is more like 3.5 stars but I would rather round up than down because 3 was too low. But it wasn’t quite a 4.

The review:

This book is really wild. The introduction is great for setting the stage for how the book is set up and for why the authors wrote it. People say and do atrocious things all the time, but somehow when they’re public figures, a lot of times they just get to apologize (and often not even sincerely) and keep on keeping on.

The book is divided into sections based on who the apologies came from. For example, they have a chapter for radio personalities, one for politicians, one for sports figures, news/media folks, the armed forces, and so on.

The layout is a direct quote of the apology given, followed by the name of the individual, their title, and then an explanation of the situation that warranted the apology. I learned the back story behind a lot of famous apologies, and also learned about plenty of pretty horrific mistakes prominent people have made that I didn’t previously know about.

The failure of so many people we have elevated in society to really take accountability for their actions is appalling. This book is often reviewed and labeled as comedic or humorous but I will say that I did not find it funny at all. I mean, maybe just that it’s laughable how pathetic some of these apologies are, but not ACTUALLY funny. This book is jarring and one that will make you shake your head or yell out obscenities. But I think it’s important because it makes you think about the impact of having people in high places with these types of mentalities, and has you consider what we as a society need to do about holding public figures more accountable… and also about ensuring we are much more discerning about who we elevate to levels of power and influence (at least when it’s in our control).

[Hubert · Rating 4 out of 5]

A neat collection of blurbs each representing a more or less half-hearted apology from a public figurre in sports, media, or politics, having put their foots in their mouths on one or more occasions, and insulted someone publicly along the lines of race, gender, ethnicity, military status, and more. And even though I read this front to back, it's more the type of book to pick up, read a few, and then say, "oh wow."

Written primarily in a time prior to social media, I imagine that revelations today are discovered more quickly, with more outrage delivered via social media comments and posts.

[Aimee · Rating 3 out of 5]

In "My Bad", Slansky and Sorkin compiled apologies with the corresponding statements/behaviors that generated them from multiple public figures (politicians, religious leaders, entertainers, etc). Slansky and Sorkin's premise is that the ritual of public apology, fanned by an atmosphere of PC, cheapens the actual apology itself. Some of the individuals in the examples seemed to have genuine regret for their actions/words. Yet too many apologies range from, "Oops, my mask dropped", to ludicrous justifications of their ignorance and boorishness, to "The Devil made me do it", to "I'm really not sorry, but I'll say something to get the monkey off my back." Sadly, many of the "quotees" clearly "didn't get" the gravity of his/her inappropriate or unacceptable behavior. I did not enjoy this as much as Slansky's book, "The Clothes have No Emperor", but it was an entertaining read.

As I finish writing this review, news sources reported Halle Berry's "gaffe" of joking about looking like her "Jewish cousin" on Jay Leno (she apparently enjoys the funhouse-mirror filters on Apple's Photo Booth). Recognizing her "bad" after her remark was met with silence, Berry then attempted to justify her comment saying she has three women who are Jewish who work for her, and *they* had made the comment (i.e., "It was sanctioned by Jewish people, so it must be OK.") Pregnant women are known to occasionally crave unusual substances (a.k.a., "Pica"). Feet are not typically one of them.

[Heather Wallen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was pretty amusing. I really enjoyed reading this collection, though it does involve more political apologies than any other types. The format of this book is very basic, it's split into sections that describe the type of apologies, then states the quoted apology, then the giver of the apology and a (mostly) brief description of why they gave the apology. It makes a point of how some "I'm Sorry"s are ridiculous, sometimes more ridiculous that what made the apology necessary. Great for anyone that likes trivia style books, or someone that enjoys humor at the expense of hypocritical politicians.

[HeavyReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book collects public apologies offered by famous people, as well as the (mis)deeds which lead up to the necessity of saying “I’m sorry.”

The part I found the most fun is when my mouth flew open in moments of “How did anyone think it was OK to say that out loud?” while reading what fucked up shit people said in the first place.

There’s no plot here—just quoted apology followed by explanation of misdeed. There is also an index, which always makes me happy.

This book was fun to read once, but I can’t imagine keeping it around and referring to it again.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny and depressing at the same time, like many of Slansky's books. Part of the fun is seeing if the tone of the apology matches the offense--there are some very groveling apologies for fairly minor errors, and some horrifically flippant apologies for terrible mistakes. Not a book that leaves you feeling really optimistic about the human condition, but still a fun read.

[Hamadryad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good bathroom book, if you like that sort of thing; you can pretty much open it anywhere and be entertained. Yet another of many books that have made me want to take most of the human race and shake some sense into them.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Restarted this book on Feb 7 2015.

A pleasant read. Met expectations. I think the political quotes were best, but that's probably because politicians are so good at this sort of thing.

(from ?)

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious and disturbing.