At Tribeca Film Festival on Monday, April 21, Aaron Sorkin apologized for trying to teach us a bunch of lessons on "The Newsroom." As the show moves into its third and final season on HBO, Sorkin admitted that he is only now beginning to figure out how to write it.
“I’m going to let you all stand in for everyone in the world, if you don’t mind,” Sorkin said to the audience. “I think you and I got off on the wrong foot with 'The Newsroom' and I apologize and I’d like to start over.”
Sorkin added that he chose to use the recent past, not to revel indulgently in how things ought to be done, but because he did not want to make up fake news. "I wasn’t trying to and I’m not capable of teaching a professional journalist a lesson," he said.
Continuing in his overwhelmingly humble mea culpa, Sorkin admitted he is "just now starting to learn how to write" the show, while lamenting the fact that he had to practice for a public of several million people and longing for the simplicity of debuting a play with previews.
So, should we forgive Aaron Sorkin for "The Newsroom"?
From a man who is, like, really not very good at apologies, this is a pretty good apology. Although, as Emily Nussbaum noted, Sorkin speaking like this is nothing new.
Anyway, whether you decide to forgive him is entirely up to you. But before you decide, you have to watch this cloyingly indulgent montage set to a seven and a half minute cut of "Fix You."
CORRECTION: A previous version of this post misidentified Monday's date.
Our 2024 Coverage Needs You
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.