“In your heart?” More like up your ass.
In light of the increased violence against Asians, expect to see this sort of crisis-management mea culpa-ing over the next few weeks.
“At the time I did those jokes, I genuinely thought them to be harmless,” Leno said in a joint press release with MANAA leader Guy Aoki. “I was making fun of our enemy North Korea, and like most jokes, there was a ring of truth to them.”
Leno continued, “At the time, there was a prevailing attitude that some group is always complaining about something, so don’t worry about it. Whenever we received a complaint, there would be two sides to the discussion: Either ‘We need to deal with this’ or ‘Screw ‘em if they can’t take a joke.’ Too many times I sided with the latter even when in my heart I knew it was wrong.”
Word to the wise, Jay: Just say “sorry”, do better from now on, and spare us the “Deep down, I’m a good person” schtick. There is no “deep down” — it’s what you do that makes you good or bad.