Congressional candidate Alex Morse has received a long-overdue apology for a smear campaign meant to derail his political ambitions. The University of Massachusetts – Amherst College Democrats have penned an open letter of mea-culpa admitting to wrongdoing and claiming that the letter–published in the UMass Amherst school newspaper–was never meant to be made public.
“We want to tell you that we are deeply sorry for the distress that the public reaction to the letter must have caused you,” the letter reads in part according to The Hill. “We should have realized that the language of the letter was careless and played into homophobic stereotypes that have been used to oppress gay men in politics. We understand that no apology of ours can make up for the homophobic attacks you have suffered as a result of our actions; nonetheless, we wish to apologize.”
Related: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stumps for Alex Morse amid homophobic scandal
The letter in question ignited a scandal that gained national attention. In it, the College Democrats accused 31-year-old Morse of trying to seduce barely legal gay men on Grindr while he was Mayor of Holyoke, Massachusetts, and while he was an adjunct professor at UMass Amherst. The College Democrats argued that Morse’s actions represented an abuse of power and should disqualify him from his congressional run. Morse, however, denied any wrongdoing and has repeatedly stated he never pursued any relationships with students in his classes.
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The scandal took an even more bizarre turn when The Intercept published a report revealing that several members of the College Democrats had manufactured the allegations against Morse as a means of derailing his political career. The group in question had hoped that by damaging Morse’s election prospects, they could secure lucrative jobs as interns for his primary opponent, Richard Neal. The members of the College Democrats that penned the letter have all been expelled from the organization as a result of the scandal.
Neal and Morse will face off in the Massachusettes Congressional Primary, scheduled for September 1.
Cam
If I only read Queerty I wouldn’t have gotten the full story on this. The guy Morse is trying to defeat in the primary is head of the committee that could have asked for Trump’s tax returns, but didn’t, and delayed and delayed until backlash forced their hand.
After finding that out, I’m really hoping Morse knocks that guy out in the primary. And it turns out that the phony scandal seems to have increased his polling numbers a bit because people were disgusted.
zealot
I’m sure their “so sorry” will keep them from being expelled…but it shouldn’t.
Mattster
Neal’s district is a very safe democratic seat with many left-leaning constituents and yet Neal has long been a very corporate democrat. If this were Ohio or Missouri I’d say he was likely the most liberal democrats could likely hope for, but I think we can do better than such a middle-of-the-road rep in such a liberal district. His stonewalling on Trump’s taxes was unconscionable, and he has also worked hard to stymie medicare for all. In fact, he has forbidden the staff of his committee to even use the term.
But hard snicker at “lucrative jobs as interns”–I know people that have worked as House interns, they made less than people working retail, and this while putting in 60-70 hours per week and living in an expensive city.
dhmonarch89
How was it not supposed to be public??? You write a letter like that about a political candidate, it’s going to be public. What a naive bunch of jack asses.
firstecho
Where’s Queerty’s apology for trafficking in this dreck? it was obvious from the beginning this was a setup and we all told you that in the comments! Journalists- real ones- are suppose to take their roles seriously and vet stories for seriousness veracity, and relevance before publication. Openly gay Adult man accused of meeting other adult men on dating website; adult man is single and running for office was not a story. No complaining victims, no specific accusation of abuse of power. No one even claimed he dated a student of his- he was a guest lecturer- not a teacher. THERE WAS NOTHING. You all should be ashamed and reach out to the candidate for an apology too.
WBrianG
…can you say “too little, too late” … assholes all of them. This apology is LONG OVERDUE…..
leo1008
great, now let’s see an apology from Queerty for all of its misleading headlines and stories on this topic. It’s actually frightening to see how easily this website, a supposed ally of gay people, was manipulated by (or just happy to play along with) the idea that this candidate had done anything inappropriate. At least in terms of this story, Queerty joined the ranks of homophobes everywhere else in their reckless attacks on the sexuality of gay people.
Kangol2
Given Neal’s record maybe this will help push Morse over the line to oust him. I mean, if Eliot Engel, Lacy Clay and other longstanding corporate-loving neoliberal Dems could be defeated, it’s not impossible for Morse to defeat Neal.
Creamsicle
So the apology was over publishing a letter that was picked up by non-school outlets? No apology for working with the state Democratic Party in a corrupt Quid Pro Quo?
jonasalden
You know what would satisfy me? The names of THOSE students who penned the letter.
DarkZephyr
We already have those names. Read various articles about the situation.
RyanMBecker
Two of the major ringleaders are Andrew Abramson and Tim Ennis. Too bad their names aren’t unique enough for an easy web search. The only justice that can be realistically achieved would be for future potential employers to discover their unethical behavior through a web search. This would be poetic justice against Ennis, whose apparent motivation was to get a job with Morse’s opponent. No Democratic politician should ever hire them. Abramson accused Morse of inappropriate behavior on Instagram but journalists found no evidence of that. Here are their photos (get rid of the spaces):
Tim Ennis:
h ttps:/ /tinyurl. com/yycc4pz8
Andrew Abramson:
htt ps: //tinyurl. com/yyyjy8oq
stuffedpuppy
@firstecho Thank you for your brilliant comment -you stole the words right out of my mouth! I’ve been living in America for 15 years and appreciate a good rebuttal as my mother tongue is French. I’m fully fluent in English but some people have an easier way with grammar…
Indeed, it shouldn’t be outside the ‘ability ’ of the Pulitzer award-winning Queerty journalist(s) to issue some form of apology regarding candidate Alex Morse (so sorry for the sarcasm, Queerty but I couldn’t help myself 😉 )
This felt too much like a smear campaign against another young, hard working Democrat (not unlike AOC) who seem to be easy targets by the reactionary right, sadly.
No hard feelings…
Ronbo
Has Graham Gremore apologized yet for assassination of gay politician Alex Morse’s career? Has Queerty certified that Graham wasn’t rewarded financially for his involvement in the pushing multiple false stories against Morse?
Morse lost to the conservative.
Invader7
No they’re NOT sorry. Neither is Queerty. They PURPOSELY tried to smear Alex. They’re petty,small ASSHOLES !!!