Last week, we were first on the scene and on the story to report that Matt Peacock – the sailor-mouthed city council representative for Norman Ward 8 – called a bunch of loud and obnoxious citizens "F*cking Assh*les" during a recent city council meeting.
As is usually the case when a politician who is unaware of how microphones work is caught sharing his true, unfiltered thoughts about his constituents, Peacock issued an apology not too long after our story broke.
Instead of blaming his choice of natural words that conveyed how he felt in the moment on Tourette’s, low blood sugar, or a result of watching Eddie Murphy’s “Raw” too many times as a kid, he tucked his tail between his legs and went full Emo, issuing a long, meandering, “I’m more mad at me than you are” apology that mimicked the ones I imagine he wrote to all his ex-girlfriends back in college.
Check this out:
Listen, there are basically three types of apology you can write: "I didn't mean to offend anyone," "I'm sorry if you were hurt," and the classic one Matt went with – “I’ll learn and grow from this experience.”
Out of the three, Matt’s is my least favorite and probably the most difficult to write, especially if you don’t mean it. You somehow have to show vulnerability and regret and make the apology look sincere, but not come across as too weak and pitiful in the process. Considering his apology read like a soggy bowl of cereal, I think he failed in that regard.
If I were Matt, I would have gone more with a “Sorry if you were offended” route:
“In last week’s council meeting, I let my emotions get the best of me and called people who were badgering and heckling me some choice R-rated words. It was a dumb mistake and I’m sorry if this offended anyone. Next time, I’ll be sure to use more acceptable words, or simply keep my thoughts to myself.”
See? Isn’t that better? Maybe it’s time I go to work in crisis management PR. There are lots of foul-mouthed politicians around the state to keep me busy.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
