The fired Today host may have said he was “truly sorry,” but his entire statement is “the latest iteration in the popular new genre of powerful men acknowledging their misdeeds while attempting to avoid admitting to serious wrongdoing,” says Constance Grady. She points out that the bulk of his statement is devoted to his regret at being caught. “For an ‘apology,’ it’s less ‘I am sorry that I did something terrible’ and more, ‘I am embarrassed that I was caught,’” she says. Eric Deggans adds that there has become “a sad ritual to these sexual harassment/assault media scandals; subject denies every allegation is true, yet still apologizes without admitting serious guilt; those still employed express sorrow, praise those who came forward.”