D.L. Hughley Apologizes For Tanee McCall-Short Comments About Domestic Violence Issue On National Radio Show

D.L. Hughley is facing plenty of scrutiny over comments he made a few weeks ago about the alleged domestic dispute between actor Columbus Short and Tanee McCall-Short.

Despite media that questioned his comments made during an after-show segment of his nationally syndicated radio show, “The DL Hughley Show,” the multi-talented entertainer and radio host has stepped up to the mic and apologized for his controversial remarks.

Earlier in the day, Hughley released a statement expressing his sincerest apologies to Mrs. McCall-Short. In the statement, Hughley attested he would discuss the controversy during the broadcast of “The DL Hughley Show.” He wrote, “We’ll address this topic with the DL Question of the Day and will discuss it throughout the show today from 3pm – 7pm ET.”

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Hughley stayed true to his word and immediately addressed the controversy in a candid conversation on-air for all of his listeners to hear.

See what he had to say below:

DL:  So Jasmine, you know the story a couple of weeks ago I was broadcasting in Charlotte…

Jasmine:  Right.

DL:  Columbus Short’s wife came up and she is alleging that he had hit her with a wine bottle and assaulted her with a knife.  I quickly jumped to Columbus Short’s defense, and I put my mouth, my, my, if this were a joke, or if I had a done a joke that people got offended by I can honestly say I wouldn’t be apologizing.  I don’t think humor, as subjective, as sometime as cutting that it can be, I think that’s something, that’s where I draw a line, I won’t apologize for that.

What I will apologize for is putting my mouth on a woman who was victimized by a man who I know, and before I knew the facts, or before I knew the severity or before I knew much of anything about it.  And so Tanee McCall-Short, I put, I basically said that she was probably a gold digger and I had no idea of the severity of what was going on.  I quickly … my, my, my sole apology is that I put my mouth on a woman, who was in fact being victimized, and that it came off as me silencing victims.  Which, you know, that you were brutalized once and then I do it again.  And so I am not in the habit of apologizing for things I don’t mean.  I’m not in the habit of saying things that I don’t mean.  That was a comment I made, and putting my mouth on that woman was something I sincerely apologize for.

So I don’t condone violence.  I’ve been married to a woman for 30 years I can honestly say I’ve never physically abused anyone, well, men, but they deserved it.  And I’ve never encouraged a woman to be silent deliberately about abuse.  So if it came off that way I have to apologize.  I don’t know that you can encourage many women to be silent about much, but I want them to be silent in general, but just not about abuse.

Steve:  Here we go.

Jasmine:  Yeah.

DL:  I want them to have, I certainly want them to have a voice when somebody victimizes them.  And as I said several times on that show I think that anybody who victimizes anybody should be prosecuted to the fullest of the law.

Steve:  You did say that.

DL:  I said it several times.  And I think that a lot of times, you know, you’re in a position where your words carry a lot more weight than you give them credit for.  So if somebody was offended by what I did, and certainly to this young lady, Tanee, I didn’t know that I was defending a dude who then later tore the door off the hinges.

Jasmine:  Yeah, he was a little koo-koo.

DL:  So I pride myself on being a man, and you can’t be a man just when you’re doing something you like.  You have to be a man when you’re doing something that has been, when you’ve wronged somebody, and for that I give my apology.  The phone lines will be open, we will discuss this, you can talk to me about anything.  So give us a call let  us know what you think, 877 242 2426, this is the – Jasmine?

Jasmine:  Oh, sorry.

DL:  You were so caught up in me actually talking and …

Jasmine:  Actually, yeah.  And apologizing.  I was like, wow, this guy is amazing.  But you can also …

DL:  Oh, I don’t think a lot of people think so right now.

Jasmine:  But we know where your heart is, you did say too …

DL:  No, well, now, here’s the thing.

Jasmine:  Listen, listen, listen, throughout the show I did come down on you and you also said very adamantly that you did not condone violence, domestic violence towards women, or towards men for that matter.  You were very, very clear about that.  And I just think it kind of got a little murky in the way it kind of came out, people who didn’t hear the entire thing probably took your words out of context.

DL:  Well, I can honestly say my words were in context.  I could say I said what I said without knowing the facts.  Without knowing, I defended and maligned the victim without knowing the facts.  So I can’t say, like I know that that’s media speak when somebody goes; ‘oh, I took it out context.’  I said what I said.  It was in context and it was certainly wrong because I made an assumption about somebody that wasn’t necessarily true.  And what I will also say is that I’m not going to have the media, you know, somebody, I’m not going to go to sensitivity training and have the media because, and pretend like I’m trying to – I’m sincerely sorry because I’m sorry.

Steve:  Or go to rehab.

DL:  Right, and I’m not, and I’ll take my responsibility, I’ll take my slings and arrows, I did what I did and I said what I said.  And I’m not going to obfuscate or hide from that, but I don’t want people to get the, you know, I’ve never hit a woman in 30 years, the woman I’ve been married to for 30 years, I have daughters, I have a son, and I understand the level and I’ve seen domestic violence first hand.  So I’m not an advocate.  Certainly I’m not, I’m certainly not anybody’s advocate for that type of behavior, nor have I displayed it.  What I will say is this, you judge a person by what he’s done.  And I’m comfortable with whatever assessment people have.