NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne has now reversed course and is apologizing for what he dubbed "offensive" tweets about public breastfeeding. Kahne had earlier recalled an incident where he saw a mother breastfeeding her baby in the supermarket, and tweeted that the incident made him uncomfortable and even caused him to lose his appetite. When a reader called him out on his comments, he responded by calling the reader a "dumb bit**."
"I understand that my comments regarding breastfeeding posted on Twitter were offensive to some people," Kahne said on his Facebook page. "For that, I apologize. It was in no way my intention to offend any mother who chooses to breastfeed her child, or, for that matter, anyone who supports breast feeding children. I want to make that clear."
He continued:
In all honestly, I was surprised by what I saw in a grocery store. I shared that reaction with my fans on Twitter. It obviously wasn’t the correct approach, and, after reading your feedback, I now have a better understanding of why my posts upset some of you.
My comments were not directed at the mother’s right to breastfeed. They were just a reaction to the location of that choice, and the fashion in which it was executed on that occasion.
I respect the mother’s right to feed her child whenever and wherever she pleases.
Kahne also apologized to the woman he lashed out to via Twitter:
As we reported yesterday, the comments came on the day that breastfeeding advocates staged a "nurse-in" at Target stores nationwide. It was a move to stand in solidarity with a Houston mother who says she was harassed by employees at a Target store because of her decision to breastfeed in public.
"It's a statement saying 'we're not freaks,'" Clarissa Bradford, who participated in a nurse-in in Phoenix, told ABC15. "We're not walking around with our breasts hanging out. Even if we are, it's just to feed our babies."