I get where you're coming from, but Lackey is a human being not a brand. We should probably try to be a little more charitable to people who don't have a history of bigoted statements or bad behavior.
She’s both a human AND a brand. Any celebrity- big or small- is.
Personally, I was in a very similar situation on ENWorld a couple years before I was asked to be a Mod. The Charlie Hedbo incident had just happened. I made a comment blaming Islamic radicals…at least I
meant to.
Due to careless proofread and editing on my part, my condemnation of radical Islam became one
condemning the entire faith, all billion+ of them. I got a 2 week ban. Because I wasn’t as frequent a visitor to the site back then, I was a good 10 days into my ban before I even knew it had happened. I was
mortified when I got back and read the reason for my ban.
The first thing I did when the ban was lifted was to post a thread describing what happened and apologizing for it. Said thread was shut down in hours by Umbran, who pointed out that publicly commenting on moderation was forbidden by the ENWorld ToS. Fortunately, he didn’t give me a second infraction.
Thing is, I
needed to make that apology. Even though it was accidental,
I posted what I posted, and what I posted was offensive. I had to take responsibility for my action, even though it was a simple mistake.
Ms. Lackey made a slip of the tongue. She meant no harm, but clearly caused some. By apologizing for her mistake, she confirms to those who know her and illustrates to those who don’t that her word choice was merely a gaffe, and not a window to an unsuspected character flaw.