Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Days after MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry offered a tearful apology for a segment making fun of Mitt Romney's adopted grandchild, the former Republican presidential candidate said he had forgiven the network.
"I am going to move on from that," he told Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace. "I am sure they want to move on from it. Look, I’ve made plenty of mistakes myself. They’ve apologized for this. You know, I think we can go on from there.”
"I think people recognize -- and the folks at MSNBC have apologized -- recognize people like me are fair targets," Romney continued. "If you get in the political game, you can expect incoming. But children, you know, that’s beyond the line, and I think they understand that, and feel that as well."
"I think it’s a heartfelt apology. I think for that reason, we hold no ill will whatsoever," he added.
Last week, Harris-Perry and panelists Pia Glenn and Dean Obeidallah discussed a photo featuring the Romneys' newest family member, Kieran, the adopted black son of Ben and Andelynne Romney.
Asked to come up with captions for the photo, Glenn sang Sesame Street's "One of These Things is Not Like The Others," while Obeidallah joked, "It really sums up the diversity of the Republican party, the RNC. At the convention, they find the one black person.” Harris-Perry wondered whether Kieran would marry Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's daughter North.
Harris-Perry later apologized on Twitter, citing her own experience as the daughter of a white Mormon mother and a black father.
As black child born into large white Mormon family I feel familiarity w/ Romney family pic & never meant to suggest otherwise. #MHPapology
— Melissa Harris-Perry (@MHarrisPerry) December 31, 2013"I am deeply sorry that we suggested that interracial families are in any way funny or deserving of ridicule," she said. "We’re genuinely appreciative of everyone who offered serious criticisms of last Sunday’s program, and I am reminded that our fiercest critics can sometimes be our best teachers.”
