LA Times opinion writer David Horsey got in some trouble last week for a column which mocked the appearance of White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. In case you missed this story, Horsey wrote that Sanders, “does not look like the kind of woman Donald Trump would choose as his chief spokesperson.” He continued, “the president has generally exhibited a preference for sleek beauties with long legs and stiletto heels.” As for Sarah Sanders, Horsey wrote she, “looks more like a slightly chunky soccer mom who organizes snacks for the kids’ games.”

After a backlash for those comments, Horsey removed them from his piece and added an update apologizing to readers and to Sanders. Today, Horsey appeared on Megyn Kelly’s show and apologized again. Kelly asked, “What could you have been thinking?”

Horsey replied, “There’s sort of the literal way I did it and there’s also the understanding that even a guy who’s trying to do the right thing most of the time, I grew up in the same sexist world everybody else did and stuff just comes out.”

Does this excuse sound familiar to you? It does to me. Remember in the first days of the Harvey Weinstein scandal when he issued a statement saying, “I came of age in the 60′s and 70′s, when all the rules about behavior and workplaces were different.”

Of course, Horsey didn’t sexually assault anyone but he is basically offering the same excuse, i.e. society made me do it. I might even have some sympathy for this if Horsey had been mouthing off at a party after a few drinks on his off hours. But in this case, he was at work, writing a column for a major newspaper. And let’s not forget the cartoon that went with this, with its 1984 theme and Nazi-inspired uniform:

"Sarah Huckabee Sanders is the right mouthpiece for a truth-twisting president" Top of the Ticket cartoon ((David Horsey / Los Angeles Times pic.twitter.com/yLPzvOjI2m

— FRA (@frma_com) November 2, 2017

Horsey apologized for the column but the cartoon is still up.

In any case, the most surprising part of this interview may have been when Megyn Kelly reacted to Horsey referring to Fox News hosts as “blonde Barbie dolls in short, tight skirts.” Kelly reeled off the degrees and qualifications of several female Fox News reporters and concluded, “To me, these are not blonde Barbie dolls in short, tight skirts and I think I speak for a lot of them when I say that part was equally offensive.” This brought a round of applause from the audience, possibly the first time a Today show audience has applauded for Fox News reporters as a group.

Here’s the full interview.