The 6 Oddest Public Apologies of 2015

There was no immediate update on whether Carlos’ grand gesture worked (Jessica, we must know: #DidYouForgiveHim?), but when people take their apologies public, it’s fair to assume they must have really messed up. It’s certainly a bold move, even if sometimes they’re pressured into it, but hey, we still commend them for trying. Here are some of the oddest public apologies of 2015. 

1. Steve Harvey Repents for Crowning the WRONG Miss Universe

This one might still be trending as you read this. Harvey accidentally read the incorrect name of the Miss Universe pageant winner, let the poor woman excitedly accept the flowers and crown, then came back on stage and admitted his mistake. Whoops, his bad—that crown actually wasn’t for you, Miss Colombia. He apologized on the show, immediately after he realized his blunder, and again on Twitter the next day (though, eek, he misspelled Colombia in the tweet). And something tells us he’ll have to keep groveling until the American public gets wrapped up in the next viral video of a very public misstep.

2. Justin Bieber Apologizes to Fans for Being…Justin Bieber 

Filmed in a gritty, dark, selfie-esque style, the Biebs basically swallowed a whole lot of pride in 2015, and confessed to what we all already knew: He’d evolved into a typical, newly rich and famous jerk a few years after bursting onto the music scene as a young, fresh-faced Internet sensation. He’d gone from innocent “Baby” to kind of desperate bad-boy and authorities across the globe were dealing with the resulting sh*t storm. But, most importantly, he admitted that he’d let his Beliebers down and for that, homeboy felt real bad.

3. Apple Bows Down to Taylor Swift

When the giant, insanely wealthy Apple Corporation announced it would provide FREE streaming as part of a trial period for new customers to its music service, TaySwift laid down the law. Swift had the balls to speak up for musicians not as mega-famous as her, and demand they get paid for their work all the time. She posted a Tumblr blog/open letter to the company and Apple was all up in her grill, agreeing to pay artists what they deserved, the next day. Ahhh, the power of technology, social media, and some killer breakup songs.

4. Chipotle Takes Out a Full-Page Ad

Remember that time Chipotle was serving up E. coli like it was guacamole on a burrito? Gross, we sure do. Well, CEO Steve Ellis’ seven-paragraph apology note published in the Boston Herald and Boston Globe morphed into more of an apology tour. It didn’t help that as we learned 140 people were sick in Boston, we also discovered that 52 people in nine other states had been reported ill. Now, 61 newspapers have gotten the “Whoopsies!” letter. He was also on the Today show pleading for Matt Lauer’s absolution. People are starting to wish Chipotle would stop saying sorry already and just get back to whipping up mouthwatering (bacteria-free) burritos.

5. India Apologizes to One British Woman

Yes, that’s right, the entire country (or at least a lot of the people living there) said sorry. A British blogger expressed some serious upset when she recounted being aggressively stared at by a masturbating Indian man on a bus during her first visit to the country. Apparently he was pleasing himself without breaking uninvited eye contact with the woman. Did we mention this was on public transportation? Her blog post made its way around social media (and thus, the world) and she received an outpouring of remorse from Indian folks who were disappointed that one bad apple soiled her experience in their country. And who said blogging was a dead art form?

6. Gamers Make a Game Out of Apologizing

Gaming enthusiasts, beware: If you cheat, you will lose. In the spring of 2015, the popular gaming developer, Daybreak Game Company, banned over 25,000 players from one of its most popular games, H1Z1, for not playing by the rules. The diehard gamers were so distraught by their chastisement that they started publicly apologizing in YouTube videos. As promised by Daybreak, the bans were lifted on the cheaters as their sorrys came rolling in and were shared on social media. Leave it to a video game company to literally make a game out of getting players to beg for mercy.

All animations created and/or downloaded via giphy.com