Who’s Sorry This Week? Seth Rogen, Amy Adams and other public apologies

Culture

Another week, another deluge of apologies.

In Who’s Sorry This Week? Mic tracks down the most prominent mea culpas from celebrities, companies and other public entities trying to make amends for their various screwups.

This week had no shortage of apologies, so let’s get right to it.

EA Sports is sorry it edited Colin Kaepernick’s name out of Madden NFL 19 like a curse word

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

In the upcoming Madden NFL 19 video game, the soundtrack includes “Big Bank” by YG. However, the in-game version of the song has been altered to remove a reference to former NFL player Colin Kaepernick, who kneeled during the national anthem during games to protest systemic anti-black violence at the hands of police, according to Waypoint.

“You boys all cap, I’m more Colin Kaepernick,” is what Big Sean raps in the original version of the song — but in Madden NFL 19, Kaepernick’s name is simply muted out. You can hear the way it sounds in advanced copies of the game in the following video tweeted by @jeanclervil:

The censoring of Kaepernick’s name felt especially significant, since he has been the central figure in a debate over players’ rights to protest during the national anthem — a debate the president himself has weighed in on. Donald Trump, and others, have heavily misconstrued the point of Kaepernick’s original reason for protesting, characterizing the silent kneel as a protest of the national anthem itself, thereby casting those who participate as anti-American.

In May, the NFL sided with those who found the protesting distasteful, approving a rule saying that players were required to stand during the national anthem.

After word spread that Kaepernick’s name was censored, Big Sean tweeted that it was a “disappointing and appalling” decision.

“Nobody from my team approved any of this,” he said.

Kaepernick responded a few minutes later.

“Much love brother,” he tweeted. “Thank you for having my back!”

Thursday night, EA released a statement apologizing for censoring Kaepernick’s name, saying it was an “unfortunate mistake” that will be resolved with a downloadable update.

“We made an unfortunate mistake with our Madden NFL soundtrack,” the statement said. “Members of our team misunderstood the fact that while we don’t have rights to include Colin Kaepernick in the game, this doesn’t affect soundtracks. We messed up, and the edit should never have happened. We will make it right, with an update to Madden NFL 19 on August 6 that will include the reference again. We meant no disrespect, and we apologize to Colin, to YG and Big Sean, to the NFL, to all of their fans and our players for this mistake.”

Seth Rogen is sorry makeup artists put a child in blackface on the set of an upcoming movie

Richard Shotwell/AP

On the set of the upcoming movie Good Boys, which Seth Rogen is producing, a child actor standing in for 11-year-old Keith L. Williams — who was on a break at the time — had his skin darkened to look more like Williams. According to TMZ, which published pictures of the stand-in with darkened skin, he also wore a wig and a fat suit.

TMZ said someone had filed a complaint to producers over the incident — but production company Good Universe defended itself, saying it wasn’t blackface and that it’s “not uncommon for lighting purposes to match actors’ skin tones.” (The stand-in is apparently black, but has a lighter skin tone than Williams, according to TMZ.)

Rapper Common weighed in during an interview posted on TMZ, saying producers should have simply found a stand-in with a complexion that matched Williams more closely.

“Come on man, it’s 2018,” he said. “When is that acceptable? If I am a black person on that set, I’m offended. And even, honestly, I think a white person should be able to step up and be like, ‘This ain’t appropriate.’ It should feel uncomfortable. There should be white and black people standing up when you see some bullshit going on.”

In a statement sent to IndieWire, Rogen apologized.

“I should start by saying this shouldn’t have happened, and I’m terribly sorry it did,” he said. “I won’t give excuses for why it happened. I’ll just say that as soon I was made aware of it, I ensured we put an end to it – and I give my word that on any project my team and I are involved in, we will take every precaution to make sure something similar does not take place again. I’m engaging in conversations to make sure I find the best way to do that. It’s on me to be proactive. Reacting isn’t enough.”

Amy Adams is sorry she keeps placing phone calls to Christina Applegate with her “fat cheeks”

Theo Wargo/Getty Images

On Tuesday’s Late Night With Seth Meyers, actress Amy Adams, who’s currently starring in HBO’s Sharp Objects, said she constantly calls actress Christina Applegate by accident.

“She’s at the top of my call list and I have fat cheeks and I keep accidentally calling her when I smile during other phone calls,” Adams said. “And then I don’t say anything and I hang up, which is really rude. But it’s been like 300 times, I think, like, it’s a lot.”

“It’s not nice, so I apologize,” she added.

Perhaps the most startling part of this story is that in order for Applegate’s name to appear at the top of her contacts list, Adams presumably has her phone contacts organized by last name, like some kind of monster.

As though she was hell-bent on proving this theory of mine, Adams went on to confess that she has accidentally called another celebrity with an “A” last name.

“I think I FaceTimed Jen Aniston on accident, too, from my bed.”

The other upside of reorganizing your contacts, Amy, besides rejoining the rest of humanity, is that maybe you’ll accidentally call other famous people and give poor Christina a break. Aaron Carter? Alexis Bledel? Annette Bening? The possibilities are truly inspiring.

Alaska Airlines is sorry it kicked a gay couple out of their seats to make room for a straight couple

On a recent Alaska Airlines flight, a flight attendant reportedly asked a gay man named David Cooley and his partner to give up their seats for a straight couple.

“I have never been so discriminated against while traveling before,” Cooley wrote on Facebook. “I was removed from an Alaska Airlines flight #1407 from John F. Kennedy International Airport to LAX to give preferential treatment to a straight couple.”

Cooley said he tried to explain that he and his traveling companion were a couple, too — but that didn’t fly.

“He was given a choice to either give up the premium seat and move to coach or get off the plane,” Cooley said. “We could not bear the feeling of humiliation for an entire cross-country flight and left the plane. I cannot believe that an airline in this day and age would give a straight couple preferential treatment over a gay couple and go so far as to ask us to leave.”

Alaska Airlines reached out to Cooley personally and apologized on Sunday, according to the New York Times. Tuesday, the airline released a statement on Twitter alleging that it was simply a “seating mix-up on a full flight” and that it offered to refund his ticket.

“We are deeply sorry for the situation and did not intend to make Mr. Cooley and his partner feel uncomfortable in any way.”