After the real-life CEO of The Onion apologized for a tweet that went out on Oscars night calling 9-year-old actress Quvenzhane Wallis a vulgar slur, the editorial staff of the humor paper released their own acknowledgement, and apparent remorse, of the gaffe on Friday.
In a satirical news brief entitled "New Study Finds The Onion Has Never Been More Popular, More Beloved, Or More Respected," the paper reports on an imaginary finding that The Onion is at the top of its game -- despite the Wallis tweet attracting more across-the-board criticism than perhaps any other Onion joke to date.
The article in part reads:
WASHINGTON -- Following one of the finest and most widely praised weeks in the history of The Onion, a new study published today found that the trusted news outlet has never been more popular, more admired, or more respected among Americans, with record numbers of readers saying the last five or six days in particular constitute a veritable high watermark for the company.
The article all but mentions the Oscars tweet by name, citing The Onion's social media presence and live event coverage as evidence of its quality. "I can't think of anything that has happened recently that would make me think they are anything but flawless and beyond reproach," said one (fake) reader in the (fake) article.
It ends by saying that The Onion's editorial staff "had confirmed that they could not remember having a better week at work, nor could they remember ever having felt so happy in general with their lives, nor more content with the state of the world as a whole and their place in that world."
As this article was itself penned by The Onion's editorial staff, it would appear that this is an admission that they have taken the firestorm of criticism about the controversial tweet to heart.
Still, many don't believe that The Onion should have apologized at all. Many comedians were vocal in their belief that even if the joke was not funny, the spirit of satire was intact -- including several former editors of the paper.
Plenty of self-described fans of The Onion were offended by the Wallis tweet, saying that the humor outlet had finally crossed the line. Now that both its parent company and editorial staff have issued mea culpas of sorts, do you think The Onion has properly apologized for its misfire? Answer in our poll below.