My colleague R. Scott Moxley recently wrote of the shitstorm kicked up after The Amazing Race had contestants visiting Vietnam watch a pro-communist musical show,
recite a pro-communist poem and then gather at an anti-American
military site in Hanoi. If there was increased interest (and ratings?) heading into Sunday night's airing of the CBS reality show, viewers discovered right after the final 60 Minutes stopwatch tick that producers were apologizing.
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“Parts of last Sunday's episode, filmed in Vietnam, were insensitive to a
group that is very important to us–our nation's veterans,” read the type of a bright blue placard that appeared from the show started. “We want to apologize to veterans–particularly those who served in
Vietnam–as well as to their families and any viewers who were
offended by the broadcast. All of us here have the most profound respect
for the men and women who fight for our country.”
As Moxley reported, the March 17 broadcast was blasted by Bob Beckel, “one of the token liberals on Fox News” and “a cantankerous, longtime Democratic Party strategist who tried to
get Walter Mondale into the White House in 1984.”
FOX Slams Amazing Race on CBS for Pro-Communist Tributes During Vietnam Stop
Insisting that episode was an obscene slight to U.S. soldiers who fought to keep South Vietnam free, Beckel vowed to continue ranting until CBS management apologized. His cause was picked up by James E.
Koutz, a Vietnam War veteran and American Legion national commander who sent the network a letter demanding an apology for “its disgraceful slap-in-the face administered to American
war heroes.”
Koutz sent out a follow-up statement after Sunday night's broadcast: “America is a forgiving country. When you make a mistake, you own up to it. The American Legion applauds CBS and The Amazing Race for its apology.
“We believe it to be sincere and
heartfelt. We would like to thank the hundreds, if not thousands, of
people who supported us through their Facebook comments, tweets, e-mails
and phone calls. We would also like to thank Fox News Channel's Greg
Gutfeld for bringing this to our attention and his colleague Bob Beckel. To CBS, I say, 'apology accepted.'”
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.