Howard Kurtz addressed his notorious error about Jason Collins, which led to his firing from the Daily Beast, on his CNN show "Reliable Sources" on Sunday.
Kurtz was fired from the Beast after he penned an erroneous column that claimed that NBA center Collins — who recently came out as gay — was not forthcoming about his former engagement to a woman.
He apologized for the column on Sunday's "Reliable Sources," saying:
On Monday, I read the Sports Illustrated article by Jason Collins, the first pro-male team athlete to come out as publicly gay. I read it too fast and carelesly missed that Jason Collins said he was engaged previously to a woman and then wrote and commented that he was wrong to keep that from readers, when I was in fact the one who was wrong. My logic about what happened between Jason Collins and his former fiancee and what was and wasn't disclosed, in hindsight, well I was wrong to even raise that and showed a lack of sensitivity to the issue. Also, I didn't give him a chance to respond to my account before I wrote it and in addition my first correction was not as complete and as full as it should have been. In a video where I discussed the issue, I wrongly jokingly referred to something I shouldn't have joked about. I apologize to readers and viewers and most importantly to Jason Collins and to his ex-fiancee. I hope this very candid response will earn your trust back over time. It is something that I am committed to doing.
Kurtz was further grilled by NPR's David Folkenflik and Politico's Dylan Byers about the error, why he should keep his role as CNN's media critic, and his role at Daily Download.
"This is not a ritual for me, where you just come on camera and say you're sorry and you hope to move on," Kurtz later added. "I am truly sorry about what happened... and I am determined to learn from this episode and and minimize the chances of anything like this happening again."
Collins spoke about dating women and almost marrying his ex-fiancee in the Sports Illustrated article announcing his coming out and in a television interview with George Stephanopoulos the next day. Sources have described Kurtz's Collins piece as merely one reason among several for his firing. Staffers, sources told The Huffington Post's Michael Calderone, had also been wondering about Kurtz's role in the website Daily Download.
CNN said on Friday that Kurtz would continue his role as the host of "Reliable Sources."