Well Jason, at least you had the decency to apologize for it, but it would have been better if the BH (Butt Heads) chose not to print the damn thing in the first place.

Thank you.

I don’t really understand… It’s a joke, and half of the SOs are known to be made up anyway. There is such a thing as too PC.

Transparently passing the blame… sure there’s a thing as too PC, but this shit isn’t funny. Demote the Advertising Manager who printed it, man up, and quit making excuses! You allow such an offensive “joke” to be printed, you’re damn right you’re going to hear about it!

Thank you, Jason, for taking the time to write this much-needed piece. I am glad to see the shoutout correctly recognized in print as “distasteful and inappropriate.” I am also confident that had you or your managing editor seen the shoutout prior to print, it would have been removed, and I trust that the standards for the shoutouts will be higher in the future.

Nonetheless, I do not accept the innocent “mistake” characterization, as literally hundreds of online submissions are available each week, and the printed items are consciously chosen by your advertising staff. Though your advertising editor likely did not choose it maliciously, her failure (and the failure of everyone else who saw it priot to print) to recognize the problematic attitudes espoused in it still reflects an acceptance of rape culture on this campus.

Related, this is one of the key places where this apology falls short; I do not see where it explains why it was wrong to print this shoutout. Again, all of the adjectives you have used are correct. However, immediately after you quote the shoutout, you miss an opportunity to open the dialogue you profess to be so interested in creating. Why did we find this shoutout so offensive? Clearly and unequivocally, it must be stated that sex without consent is called rape. An individual who passes out (presumably from alcohol intoxication) while fooling around is not capable of giving consent. I think the person who posted this shoutout likely knows both of these things, and thus knows damn well the scenario described does not “count” as consent. Yet because of the campus climate that surrounds alcohol and sex—i.e. the widespread but incorrect and degrading assumption that if she was drunk, she probably wanted it anyway—this individual saw an opportunity to use sexual assault as a source of humor and mockery. Maliciously or not, printing the shoutout validated those attitudes.

And on a final, admittedly snarkier note: Buck up, buttercup. I know you don’t personally endorse or condone rape. But you’re the editor-in-chief of the Badger Herald, and the Badger Herald printed what may only be described as an outrageously outrageous statement. I’m glad you got backlash for it, and I’m glad you got a lot of it. It’s gratifying to see this deserved apology in print. But the BH also deserved every one of the emails it got.

As editor in chief, maybe you need to clean house with how often the Badger Herald editors run trash. Hit pieces on faculty, hit pieces on business owners, encouraging illegal activity, and extremely offensive remarks. This time it was rape; the last @&^!storm was about the “you !@^! like a parapalegic” comment in the sex column.

This is clearly a people problem, and some of these 19-year-old “journalists” need to go.

Clearly a problem? Maybe you should lighten up, homie.

Anyone who takes a sex column too seriously needs to stop frantically masturbating during shampoo commercials.

So because it is in the “sex column” it would be okay to run other forms of slurs as things “not to say during sex?” I can see that going over spectacularly well if it involved a crack on sexual orientation or perceived racial characteristics or behavior. Although it seems disability insults are apparently the only ones that people think they can even jest about anymore…

Even the Badger Herald admitted that not deleting disparaging remarks from the sex column was completely unacceptable. They “apologized” for that too.

Mr. Smathers, You and your publication deserved to be shamed by this, and I’m glad an “organized and concerted effort” was launched to do so. I appreciate your apology, but it is undercut by your obvious attempt to suggest that the real blame for the larger incident rests with those who criticized the publication of this shout-out.

If you want to retain the integrity of your newspaper, there needs to be a high standard of consistency and accountability. If previous editors made mistakes, don’t make those same mistakes. Take responsibility for your actions and the actions of your staff, and realize that being in a leadership role requires doing all of the above with poise. Don’t make excuses.

All you needed to do to rectify the situation was to apologize, the excuses you’ve made are laughable.

“attacked this paper based on an assumption”

Wrong ‘em, boyo. They criticized the ACTIONS of your paper, which was to print something offensive. It’s your job to prevent that from happening, and you didn’t. You promise that you will from now forward, and if that’s true then this whole thing will just die down, won’t it?

P.S. “It’s not really my fault but they say I have to take the blame” kind of apologies aren’t worth much, imho.

The Herald receives hundreds of shout outs each week, and we’re honestly supposed to believe that this happened on accident? Do you pick the shout outs to be published out of a hat or something? I’m struggling with the idea that someone intelligent enough to attend this school isn’t intelligent enough to recognize the implications of this “joke”. So you’ve either employed a complete idiot, or, more realistically, your claim that the paper in no way enjoys controversy for the sake of controversy is less than truthful.

Do you have an alibi for your multiple friends’ sexual assaults?

I’d like an apology for your apology.

You are the editor-IN-CHEIF. No matter what mistakes happen below you, it is YOUR job to correct them. The fact that you are trying to avoid the responsibility and make excuses for a comment that made light, whether or not intended to do so, of thousands of students’ personal nightmares is disgusting.

How dare you accuse the student body of merely trying to go after the Badger Herald! Just because countless students stood up to you by sending the same message doesn’t mean that each one wasn’t sent from a significantly offended base.

And imagine what that girl felt. She was raped. At this very moment that girl is going through the darkest period she’ll probably ever have to face. And here you are saying you’ll apologize (I’m paraphrasing here) because it’s your job to do so, but not actually because you think this situation is a big deal.

Your cowardliness is astounding, and it shows you have no business being in charge of a team and speaking out for a publication as a whole. When you and your paper can actually take FULL responsibility for the material you publish, that’s when I’ll start taking the Badger Herald seriously.

I’m not sure how you construed “I take full responsibility” as him trying to avoid responsibility.

So he says, “do you love me?” And she says “no, but that’s a real nice SKI MASK you have on!”

I wholeheartedly agree with what Erica wrote above. While this apology is much appreciated, it is also wrought with excuses and does not address the underlying issue. A full apology takes into account WHY what happened was wrong/bad and attempts to atone for that, not just the process of how the wrong/bad thing happened. I would hope the BH would take this opportunity to educate students and encourage a dialogue about this very real issue. While I would not go as far as to say the BH “endorses rape” or that anyone involved in the printing of this shoutout had malicious intent, I do feel it is justified to say that it supports or reinforces a rape culture. This apology was a chance to refute that image and decry those beliefs. So although I am glad to see a lage apology in print, it falls flat on that front.

Also, as someone that complained (twice), I think the solution to the slew of emails is simply acknowledgement of people’s complaints. I know I was frustrated when I heard nothing, it felt like the issue was being ignored and my complaint about it was unimportant. I feel like even a form letter apology would have helped calm or slow the onslaught of emails (just BCC everyone for confidentiality and send one mass email). I mean, how hard would it have been to say “We are terribly sorry for the offense nature of this shoutout. It was not our intention and an oversight on our part, and we are working to rectify the situation” ?

Just pathetic. Two weeks in a row of horrible, pathetic journalistic ethics by the Herald. First the Nitty Boycott, and now this. What a joke.

This was a poor attempt at an apology. However, it was one that took the form of “I’m sorry, but…”. That hardly counts. Instead of making excuses for why this ASO got published in the first place, you should have published something to tell students you understand the repercussions of publishing something of this nature. I felt like you were trying to justify your actions more than you were trying to apologize. And the response you got from organizations was NOT exaggerated by any means; in fact, I wish more people bombarded you with e-mails. This was not an organized and concerted effort to shame you—you are completely missing the point. The emails were only meant to call your attention to this issue to ensure that this type of mistake does not happen again. All in all, I’m glad you made the effort to apologize for this, but next time, try to defend yourself a little less and realize that saying “I take full responsibility for the incident” while naming your article ” A Qualified but Sincere Apology” simply does not cut it.

Bring back Schalmo!

you have their IP address right? why not forward it and the shout out to the police? This shout out is better printed than ignored. You can learn from another’s misfortune and not get plastered this weekend.

you have their IP address right? why not forward it and the shout out to the police? This shout out is better printed than ignored. You can learn from another’s misfortune and not get plastered this weekend.

Mr. Smathers -

A “qualified” apology is not a real apology. This mostly unapologetic article is inappropriate and foolish. Next time, offer a sincere apology and lose the self-righteous, defensive tone of this piece.

I appreciate the apology, and I really do not think the badger herald endorses rape. That said, the shout out was horrible but I think it is unfair to question the integrity of all staff based on one misplaced, distasteful shout out. As I see it, you made a mistake and you stood up and tried your best correcting it.

Every morning I get up and look in the mirror and I thank God I’m not Jason Smathers.

Giving your BH readers a qualified apology is, in my opinion, unacceptable. You absolutely cannot take full responsibility for your actions and, at the same time, fault the opposition for their reaction. Unfortunately, you are minimizing your organization’s culpability in choosing to print this shoutout while trying to redirect blame onto those who are quite rightly outraged.

Shoutouts are selected for print based upon their amusing qualities from a large selection of online submissions. The correct questions to be asking right now are: “Why did someone on our staff find this shoutout amusing and choose to let it remain on our website, let alone select it for publication?” and “What misconceptions regarding intoxication and sexual assault have we bolstered by publishing this shoutout?” and NOT “Why are we getting so much heat for this?” It would be far more disturbing if this shoutout went unnoticed by the public.

If you are truly upset with a “concerted and organized effort” to shame your organization, perhaps you should reconsider your organization’s attempts to undermine the Nitty Gritty.

Jason Smathers, this is not an apology, but an excuse. Your association with the Herald gives it a bad name, and we all question your qualifications in the paper and your presence in Vilas. Get off your high horse, and start doing your job.

Way too much of an overreaction.

Dear Mr. Smathers,

I appreciate the apology; however, is a ‘qualified apology’ truly genuine? I simply ask for accountability, especially within a newspaper that reaches a student population. Perhaps the Badger Herald can cover an article which addresses the rape culture that is perpetuated on college campuses through such ‘slip ups’ like this. Take responsibility and represent the Badger Herald and UW-Madison population in a respectful manner.