Stacey Dash says she’s sorry for the divisive comments she made during her time as a political pundit.
The 52-year-old actress issued the apology during an exclusive interview with DailyMailTV, insisting she regrets the role she played while working at Fox News. The conservative network hired Dash as an analyst/commentator in 2014, but fired her nearly three years later following a string of controversial statements.
In 2015, she claimed then-president Barack Obama didn’t “give a shit” about terrorism. She also called for the elimination of Black History Month, BET, and the NAACP Image Awards; made transphobic comments during an Entertainment Tonight interview; and defended former president Donald Trump’s “very fine people” remarks in response to the deadly Charlottesville rally.
“I’ve lived my life being angry, which is what I was on Fox News,” she told DailyMailTV. “I was the angry, conservative, Black woman. And at that time in my life it was who I was,’ she said. I realized in 2016 that anger is unsustainable and it will destroy you. I made a lot of mistakes because of that anger.”
She continued: “There are things that I am sorry for. Things that I did say, that I should not have said them the way I said them. They were very arrogant and prideful and angry. And that’s who Stacey was, but that’s not who Stacey is now. Stacey’s someone who has compassion, empathy. God has forgiven me, how dare I not forgive someone else. I don’t want to be judged, so how dare I judge anyone else. So if anyone has ever felt that way about me, like I’ve judged, that I apologize for because that’s not who I am.”
About a year after she was fired by Fox News, Dash announced she was running for Congress in California, but ended her campaign just a month later. Dash told DailyMailTV she will never return to politics, and suggested she was no longer on the Trump train. The Clueless star said the Jan. 6 Capitol riots marked a turning point for her.
“Being a supporter of Trump has put me in some kind of box that I don’t belong in. But he’s not the president ...” she said. “I think the Capitol riots were appalling. When that happened I was like ‘OK, I’m done. I’m truly done.’ Because senseless violence of any kind I denounce. What happened on January 6 was just appalling and stupid.”
Dash went on to say that she is committed to reviving her acting career, but believes she has been “blacklisted” by Hollywood.
“Being a black conservative is not easy … This idea that people think I’m coming from a place of judgement with the things I believe? No, it’s experience,” the Bronx native said. “I’m from the hood. The codes of the street are very conservative. If you’re not a hustler, if you don’t know how to hustle, how to make your money, you’re a lamb for the slaughter.”
You can watch Dash’s full interview here.
