Bob Beckel apologized on “The Five” tonight for using the word “Chinamen” last week.
“I made some comments last week about the Chinese people which apparently upset some people, for which I apologize,” Beckel said near the end of the show.
“However…I do not apologize for the things I’ve said about China—and I won’t go into the litany of it now because there are too many China apologists in this country—but I will continue to warn the American people about how dangerous China is to the U.S. security and to our business community. But to those who were offended, I apologize. I do not apologize to the Chinese government, or for their habits, or for their murders, or for anything else.
Beckel was apologizing for these comments he made last Thursday: “The Chinese are the single biggest threat to the national security of the U.S. They have been, they will be and they can wait, they’re very patient. Do you know what we just did? As usual, we bring them over here and we teach a bunch of Chinamen— eh, Chinese people— how to do computers and then they go back to China and hack into us.” The comments drew widespread criticism, and calls for Beckel’s firing from Asian-American politicians like California congressman Mike Honda and California state senator Ted Lieu.
Beckel is no stranger to on-air apologies. Two summers ago, he had to apologize after dropping the F-bomb in response to co-host Eric Bolling punching his arm (Bolling apologized too). He’s also had to put money into his “swear jar” for using the s-word.