Mika Brzezinski apologizes for asking if Mike Pompeo is 'a wannabe dictator's butt boy'

MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski has apologized for uttering a homophobic remark on Wednesday’s “Morning Joe” during a tirade against Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Responding to Pompeo’s failure to take a strong stand against Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman for the grisly murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the co-host was furious.

“I understand that Donald Trump doesn’t care,” she said. “But why doesn’t Mike Pompeo care right now? Are the pathetic deflections that we just heard when he appeared on ‘Fox & Friends’ ― is that a patriot speaking or a wannabe dictator’s butt boy?”

Photographer G.E. Anderson posted the clip on Twitter shortly after, pointing out that the closed captioning omitted that part of Brzezinski’s remarks.

Joe Scarborough, Brzezinski’s co-host and husband, bashed Pompeo for his weakness on the matter of Khashoggi’s killing, given the CIA’s conclusion that it was committed at the direction of the crown prince.

“He’s debased himself,” Scarborough said of the secretary of state. “He once again has undercut the conclusions of our intel community.”

Brzezinski later expressed regret for her words, telling Anderson he was justified in his criticism.

“SUPER BAD choice of words,” she wrote on Twitter. “I should have said ‘water boy’... like for football teams or something like that.”

Representatives for “Morning Joe” did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

• This article originally appeared on HuffPost.