Mika Brzezinski (Photo by World Affairs Council of Philadelphia via Wikimedia Commons)

“Morning Joe” host Mika Brzezinski has apologized for referring to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as a “wannabe dictator’s butt boy.”

On a live broadcast of the MSNBC show, Brzezinski gave commentary on Pompeo’s interview with Fox News about the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s alleged involvement in the death of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi.

“Of the pathetic deflections that we just heard when he appeared on ‘Fox and Friends,’ was that a patriot speaking, or a wannabe dictator’s butt boy?” Brzezinski said on air. “And I’m dead serious. I’m asking: Are these the words of a patriot?”

.@morningmika just asked if Mike Pompeo is a “wannabe dictator’s butt boy,” as homophobic a term as I’ve heard on national morning television. @MSNBC tried and failed to censor it, and did not transcribe her remark in the closed captioning. #journalism pic.twitter.com/3zK7H8evjh

— G.E. Anderson (@g_e_anderson) December 12, 2018

Brzezinski apologized for the comment on Twitter saying that she didn’t mean it as a homophobic slur.

Totally agree with you -SUPER BAD choice of words .. I should have said “water boy”… like for football teams or something like that.. apologize to @SenatorDurbin too! SO SORRY! https://t.co/zIqsGdK3Tk

— Mika Brzezinski (@morningmika) December 12, 2018

Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, who is openly gay, tweeted back to Brzezinski that he didn’t think her apology did enough to directly address the LGBT community.

“Accepting apologies is important. We all fail. But I don’t see that you’ve actually apologized to gays? Your words demean, mock and therefore try to control whole groups by minimizing our humanity,” he posted.

accepting apologies is important. We all fail. But I don’t see that you’ve actually apologized to gays? Your words demean, mock and therefore try to control whole groups by minimizing our humanity. @morningmika https://t.co/whNqjHYjfn

— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) December 12, 2018

On Thursday, Brzezinski did not appear on “Morning Joe.” Her co-host Joe Scarborough stated that she was away at a “long-planned family event.”

“Mika has the day off with her family — a long-planned family event, which she’s sorry she’s not here because we are going to be talking about baseball most of the morning,” Scarborough said. “She’ll be back with us tomorrow.”

President Donald Trump called out Brzezinski on Twitter saying that there would have been a harsher reaction if a conservative had made the same comment. He also praised Grenell for questioning Brzezinski’s apology.

“If it was a Conservative that said what ‘crazed’ Mika Brzezinski stated on her show yesterday, using a certain horrible term, that person would be banned permanently from television,” Trump tweeted. “She will probably be given a pass, despite their terrible ratings.”

….She will probably be given a pass, despite their terrible ratings. Congratulations to @RichardGrenell, our great Ambassador to Germany, for having the courage to take this horrible issue on!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2018