Singer, songwriter, and poet Jewel has finally received an apology from former MTV music journalist Kurt Loder more than 20 years after he tried to correct her grammar during a nationally televised interview.
The 1998 interview came as Jewel was doing the publicity rounds for her book of poetry A Night without Armor. Loder, for some reason, decided to take it upon himself during the interview to try and correct the star on her use of the word “casualty” in one of the poems.
Jewel responded during the interview, “You’re a smart-[removed] for pointing that out.”
The insult from Loder still lives with Jewel today, who revealed in a recent interview with Stereogum that she was never given an apology:
“I just remember looking at him and like saying, ‘[removed] you.’ I am uneducated, straight-up. An uneducated kid that was homeless. You’re a college-educated man going after a kid, ‘[removed] you.’ I was so [removed]. No, no apology.”
She then added, “It was almost that thing where you’d feel sorry for somebody, it’s like, ‘Wow, here’s a full-grown man who does news for children, on a children’s network, for teenagers.’ Yeah. You’re bitter.”
Loder has now publicly apologized to Jewel, claiming to Yahoo Entertainment that he’s been ashamed of himself for that moment since the day it happened, “That MTV interview I did with Jewel was a [removed] thing to do to anyone, and I’ve been ashamed of having done it ever since. If I could go back in time I’d smack me in the head. However, I’m not a college graduate….”
Jewel has a brand new album coming out on April 15 titled Freewheelin’ Woman. It’s her first LP since 2015’s Picking Up The Pieces. Make sure you check it out!
Do you think Loder’s apology was enough?