Ted Cruz Apologizes for Poor Tatse Joke after Protest from Nigerian ambassador

Oct. 26, 2013

It’s unfortunate that we’re living in a time where just about every joke can be misconstrued to cause offense to someone.

To the good people of Nigeria — a beautiful nation where my wife lived briefly as the child of missionaries — no offense was intended.

I am fully appreciative of the range of mutual economic and security interests that make Nigeria an important friend to the United States.

And even to those few unscrupulous email scammers who were the subject of the joke, I apologize to you for the unfair comparison to the utterly dysfunctional Obamacare website.

It’s unfortunate that we’re living in a time where just about every joke can be misconstrued to cause offense to someone.

To the good people of Nigeria — a beautiful nation where my wife lived briefly as the child of missionaries — no offense was intended.

I am fully appreciative of the range of mutual economic and security interests that make Nigeria an important friend to the United States.

And even to those few unscrupulous email scammers who were the subject of the joke, I apologize to you for the unfair comparison to the utterly dysfunctional Obamacare website.

This apology comes after the Nigerian ambassador to the United States, Ade Adefuye, demanded an apology from Cruz for disappointing and offending Nigerians, and disparaging a country for political points.

The Nigerian ambassador said he understood Cruz’s attempt to rile up his support base, but was surprised when Cruz did not deny what he said.

“To allow him to ridicule a country and its citizens is completely over the top,” Adefuye said. “He should not denigrate Nigerians in order to appease these domestic constituents.”

Dear Senator,