'Attention Barf Cleaners': Apologies of the Week

Rolling Stone's mea culpa made headlines this week, but so did one on a much less serious topic. Here's a look at some of the week's apologies:

• Adorable: "I don't know their names but thank them a lot and I'm sorry again for throwing up. And I hope you enjoy your ice cream."—Jack, a boy who threw up in a bookstore in Portland, Oregon. He sent the "barf cleaners" a letter and a Ben & Jerry's gift card.
• Regrettable: "We would like to apologize to our readers and to all of those who were damaged by our story and the ensuing fallout, including members of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and UVA administrators and students."—Will Dana, managing editor of Rolling Stone, after the magazine's infamous campus rape story was shown to be a "journalistic failure."
• Fat shaming: "I sincerely apologize to Kelly Clarkson for my offensive comment. I admire her remarkable talent and that should have been the focus of any discussion about her."—Chris Wallace, after the Fox host suggested the singer should lay off the pizza. A co-host also apologized.

• PR misfire: "We apologize to the many people who thought our tweet about the new emojis was insensitive."—Clorox spokesperson, after the company tweeted, "New emojis are alright but where's the bleach?" It showed a Clorox bottle made up of Apple's new emojis, and because some of those emojis feature include black- and brown-skinned faces, the Clorox tweet was construed as offensive on social media.
• Can't hold it: "We have high standards for service and we missed the mark. We want to apologize to our fans for the inconvenience tonight."—Chicago Cubs spokesperson, after the bathroom situation was so bad on Opening Day that fans resorted to peeing in cups.

(More apology stories.)