During times when national and international news headlines are dominated by divisive discourse or tragic events, it is always refreshing to come across stories of individuals who are making their individual strides in living inclusively. This week, Australian TODAY show co-host, Karl Stefanovic made the news after his heartfelt apology for earlier remarks he’d made about transgender people.
In a news segment that aired last week, Stefanovic joked with a fellow reporter about news gear that came close to being stolen while reporting from the Olympics. Evidently, the reporter and team walked past a group of transgender people, when one of them tried to grab a camera bag. On the air, Stefanovic jokingly referred to the culprits as “trannies” and “transvestites,” both of which are derogatory terms that have historically been used against the transgender community. It didn’t seem to take long for the social media sphere to use this as an opportunity to educate Stefanovic on his defamatory language. And it also didn’t take long for Stefanovic to use his misstep as a learning experience.
In a later segment, Stefanovic apologized for his “ignorance,” and discussed how he intended to do and be better. See below for the full apology.
There has been no shortage of similar occurrences over the years—Occurrences where organizations, celebrities, or everyday people make “diversity mistakes,” out of innocent ignorance (not including those made out of pure bigotry). Social media has contributed to peak awareness of these occurrences, which are often times followed by public back-lash and seemingly pretentious apologies. In some cases, there may not even be an apology, and impacted individuals are instead encouraged to “not be so sensitive” or “not take it personal.” In other cases, someone gets fired without even truly understanding the flaw in their actions. But this wasn’t the case in Stefanovic’s situation or apology. His apology felt genuine, heartfelt, and as if he truly learned something. Here’s why:
- He owned it. Stefanovic owned the impact of his mistake, even though it didn’t align with his initial He did not focus on why members of the transgender community shouldn’t be offended, but rather acknowledged that he understood why and regretted that they were.
- He acknowledged his ignorance and used it as a learning experience. Stefanovic didn’t understate the fact that he just didn’t know. He admitted in his apology that he wasn’t even familiar with what the acronym LGBTQI stood for. And when he was met with criticism via social media, he was open to (not defensive) understanding where he might have blind spots.
- He acknowledged his privilege. This is sometimes hard to do for those with dominant group identity status. But he does it and it is powerful:
“I take this very seriously, because I don’t know what its like to feel apart from the rest of mainstream society. I have no understanding of what it’s like to feel like you are born in the wrong body; to feel uncomfortable in your own skin; or the extreme courage it takes to accept yourself and live the life you’ve always wanted to live.”
- Lastly, he used his influence to challenge others to not use that language and encouraged others to embark on learning journeys of their own.
On this journey of being more inclusive and culturally competent in our daily lives, we’re going to make mistakes. Sometimes we just don’t know what we don’t know. We never will unless we start having difficult conversations and become comfortable with the possibility of making mistakes. Furthermore, we won’t begin to grow until we start learning from them.
