Howie Mandel is taking back his apology to Kelly Ripa.
Two weeks ago, Howie, 70, appeared as a guest on Live with Kelly & Mark when Kelly, 55, brought up him turning 70 and said how great he looks.
Howie hit back saying she was giving him a backhanded compliment.
Keep reading to find out more…After facing some heat for what he said was a “joke,” Howie posted an apology video to Kelly.
However, while appearing on Hot Mics with Billy Bush on Tuesday (March 31), Howie said he “regrets” apologizing.
“I don’t believe in apologizing but as I said in that post, which I kind of regret making, obviously I told a joke that didn’t land well,” Howie said. “Comedians always say, ‘If you can make one person laugh, you’re doing the job, but apparently that’s not enough. It’s not enough.”
“So you liked my joke,” the America’s Got Talent judge continued. “I’m reading and there’s no stopping it and I don’t understand and I tried to stop it. I tried to apologize. I agreed with people. I do.”
Howie went on to say that he doesn’t “know what’s going on” or “when this will end,” referring to the backlash over his exchange with Kelly.
And I hope it ends soon because I didn’t mean to cause any disruption,” he added. “I didn’t mean to embarrass anybody.”
Then while appearing on Carrie Berk’s Fire Chats: The Mindfire Pod on Wednesday (April 1), Howie said he didn’t “know how [the apology was] received,” adding that “it doesn’t matter.”
If you didn’t see, Kelly explained why she doesn’t talk about politics on her morning talk show.
