April 15, 2018

Kentucky’s Governor Just Apologized for Claiming Teacher Protest Led to Sexual Assaults

“I apologize for those who have been hurt by the things that were said.”

Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin. Alex Slit/Lexington Herald-Leader via AP

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) issued an apology Sunday following outrage over his assertion that a walkout by teachers in the state likely led to children being sexually assaulted and facing other “physical” harms. 

“I guarantee you somewhere in Kentucky today a child was sexually assaulted that was left at home because there was nobody there to watch them,” Bevin told a WDRB reporter on Friday after thousands of teachers demonstrated at the state capitol, leading to school closures around the state. Bevin’s comment sparked a public backlash and an official condemnation from Kentucky lawmakers. 

In a video posted Sunday, Bevin apologized for the “unintended consequences” of his remarks. “For those of you who understood what I’m saying, thank you. But clearly a tremendous number of people did not fully appreciate what it was that I was communicating, and I hurt a lot of people,” he said. “I apologize for those who have been hurt by the things that were said. That was not my intent whatsoever.” 

Kentucky teachers have sparred with Bevin over his handling of the state’s pension plan and his recent veto of a budget bill that would increase school funding. State lawmakers overrode the veto on Friday. Teachers across the state are reportedly asking other educators to wear black on Monday in protest of the governor’s comments.

WE'LL BE BLUNT:

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate