Hannah Gadsby: An Apology
Heckler acknowledges that in a review of Hannah Gadsby: Happiness is a Bedside Table, several comments were made by the author that were interpreted as homophobic and unintelligent.
Both Heckler and the author apologise unconditionally and unreservedly to Ms Gadsby for the comments, as well as to anyone offended by the comments. We have removed the review from the site.
Sadly, we cannot change what has been written, but we can do our best to make sure that these mistakes are not repeated. To that end, we will be reviewing our process for publishing stories to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
We are truly sorry, Hannah.
well done
Apologising for offending someone is anti comedy. Perhaps the offended and the performer should get a sense of humour, something pretty essential to being a stand up comedian.
It’s about actions, not words. Sorry is easy to say but not so easy to do…obviously.
Very pleased to see this response, and that the issue has been dealt with rationally and reasonably.
I didn’t read the review in question but have of course seen the above apology. It seems that you are saying sorry because some individuals may have interpreted what was written in a way that didn’t accurately reflect the author’s intention. Therefore HECKLER is taking responsibility for the thoughts and apprehension of others.
You cannot in all good conscience apologize for what anyone else believes, it is however potentially appropriate to offer up acknowledgement of regret if the intention was consciously malicious. I’m guessing that the offending piece was nothing more than a tongue in cheek report which made some ironic play on language and stereotypes. I could be wrong, is HECKLER some sort of low, offensive and bigoted rag?
Self censorship is probably a bad idea too, particularly for writers. I would love to read this review and make up my own mind, would that be possible?
I believe that everyone has the right to free speech, but that nobody has the right not to be offended.
What the frack is so offensive about apologising. It is done so rarely and Heckler have done a good job. I didn’t read the review but if it could be interpreted by anyone to intimate that Hannah is either homophobic or not intelligent then it was poorly written. Based on the apology alone I can assume that is true. Really hope I haven’t made a grammatical error here, as that would blow the impact of my comment. Over.
Wait. Are we really getting offended about an apology that was written for accidentally offending someone whose job pretty much rules out getting offended?
Grow up, people.