11.22.2010

on harvard time's non-apology

More on On Harvard Time's "Why Did I Choose Yale?" video spoof, which received a great deal of criticism for making a joke about murdered Yale grad student Annie Le... The original video with the offending line ("What happened to that girl who got murdered and stuffed in a wall?") has been taken down and replaced with a redubbed version ("What happened to the original line in this video?")

On Harvard Time also released what it's calling an "apology," though as anyone who's seen their share of these statements can tell you, it's a straight-up classic non-apology: Harvard, Yale, and the Non-Apology Apology.
On Harvard Time responded by making its original video private and then releasing a revised version (below) that replaces the offensive line with, "What happened to the original line in this video?" The group issued a statement Wednesday that said: "The humor rested in the glossing over of a significant event, and not in the event itself. The line was not meant to make light of the incident or those involved, but rather to mock the University."

The statement noted that some Yale students and faculty members had "voiced concern that the line makes light of this student’s murder and goes beyond parody." The statement continued, "This was certainly not our intention in writing it, but we understand this response and sincerely apologize for any offense it may have caused."
Yup, the good old sorry-you-were-offended tactic. Good one, you clever Harvard kids. Why bother pretending to apologize at all? They might as well end their statement with, "However, we are not sorry we made the joke in the first place. Because we can do whatever the hell we want!"

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