Political scientist Vladimir Tismaneanu offers apologies for racist, hurtful post

Professor and political scientist Vladimir Tismaneanu apologized for an offensive Facebook post that has come under the fire of the National Council for Combating Discrimination (CNCD), stating that he didn't give in-depth consideration to its racist implications, and voicing his openness to working with Roma community activists to combat hate, intolerance, and bigotry.

"Having spent hours reflecting, I would like to offer a final apology for the racist, inappropriate and most importantly, hurtful meme I posted yesterday. While I truly did not think deeply about the racist implications in the moment, I should have. As soon as I realized I deleted (within minutes). It is not an excuse that I do not live in Romania, I should have done more research and recognized that this was not funny, especially before sharing on a public forum. There is no excuse. I will do better in the future, I will learn from this. I know some may not accept this apology or believe what I am saying and that is their right. I know there are no magic words to fix the pain I have caused. That being said, I am open to working with those active in the Roma community about how to combat hate, intolerance, and bigotry. I also understand I am not owed any of this. As I said, I will learn from this mistake and I hope the reaction has shown others that these sort of jokes are not funny and hurtful to many. For me, I plan to continue spending Passover reflecting. On Monday, I will return to my usual activities. Thank you to those who wrote to defend my reputation as well as to those who have been critical in good faith," Tismaneanu wrote on Facebook.

President of the National Council for Combating Discrimination Asztalos Csaba announced that the institution would take ex-officio action in the case of Vladimir Tismaneanu's Facebook post, if no complaints are filed about it, and that it will also refer the case to the University of Maryland where Tismaneanu is a professor of politics. The "Elie Wiesel" Institute also requested apologies from the writer.

The incriminated message contained an ethnic slur against the Roma.