Clueless actress and former Fox News commentator Stacey Dash has walked back some of the statements she made in support of Donald Trump, telling the Daily Mail that she was “angry,” and that, “I made a lot of mistakes because of that anger.”
While stopping short of denouncing the former president, she expressed regret at the ways she defended his actions or attacked his predecessor Barack Obama. She first appeared on Fox in 2014, and her short stay at the network was full of controversy. Fox suspended her in 2015 after she cursed on air, saying that Obama didn’t “give a shit,” about terrorism. In 2016, she called for an end to Black History month and said that America needed to “get rid of” the BET network and the NAACP Awards.
“I’ve lived my life being angry, which is what I was on Fox News. I was the angry, conservative, Black woman. And at that time in my life it was who I was,” Dash said.
Fox fired Dash in 2016, but she still managed to stay in the spotlight. In 2017, after Trump claimed there were “very fine people” among the neo-Nazis and counter-protestors at a rally in Charlottesville, Dash rushed to his aid. “I think he was absolutely right,” she said. “Both sides had a right to assemble, but they were both extremes. Do I know every person of the neo-Nazi party, if they have a good heart or not? No I do not.”
She ran for Congress as a Republican in 2018, but the campaign only lasted for one month. Now, she says she looks back on her moments as a high-profile conservative with a cooler head.
“There are things that I am sorry for,” she said. “Things that I did say, that I should not have said them the way I said them. They were very arrogant and prideful and angry. And that’s who Stacey was, but that’s not who Stacey is now. Stacey’s someone who has compassion, empathy.”
Dash added, “I realized in 2016 that anger is unsustainable and it will destroy you. I made a lot of mistakes because of that anger.”
Today, she doesn’t support extreme expressions of conservatism, and that extends to the insurrection at the Capitol building “I think the Capitol Riots were appalling,” she said. “When that happened I was like ‘Ok, I’m done. I’m truly done.’ Because senseless violence of any kind I denounce. What happened on January 6th was just appalling and stupid.”
But during the interview, Dash refrained from overtly criticizing the former president, instead saying, “‘Being a supporter of Trump has put me in some kind of box that I don’t belong in.” She then changed the conversation. “But he’s not the president. I’m going to give the president that we have right now a chance.”
Dash says that while she now considers herself “apolitical,” many of her core values haven’t changed. “I’m not a feminist,” she said. “Right now I feel like women need to support men, lift them up, love them and respect them. On the other hand, it’s a two-way street. If men want us to do that, they have to respect us, cherish us, adore us, love us. We can’t do one without the other. We need each other.”
She intends to do more acting, though she doesn’t expect a warm reception in Hollywood. “I’ve been basically blacklisted. Being a Black conservative is not easy.” She has a movie coming out soon, an anti-abortion drama called Roe v. Wade that last month premiered at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, FL.
In 2019, Dash was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence, and soon afterwards split from her fourth husband.
Breaking! Stacey Dash is apologizing. Maybe Omarosa can give her tips on where to go on the apology tour. They always wanna come back home, dont they?
This part, “I was the angry, conservative, Black woman. I made alot of mistakes cuz of that anger.” 😐 https://t.co/qCBgD67J9F pic.twitter.com/XFa4aKFpOu
— Clay ‘Didn’t Hold My Vote Hostage’ Cane (@claycane) March 11, 2021
