Comedian Rob Schneider apologized to his musician daughter Elle King after she described their "toxic" family relationship on Bunnie XO’s Dumb Blonde podcast.
The 60-year-old SNL alum appeared for an interview with right-wing host Tucker Carlson, who asked about the "family tragedy playing out in the news" with Scheider's daughter going after him publicly.
Schneider remarked, "It's fun being a parent, isn't it?" before Carlson asked him to elaborate on the family beef.
In response, Schneider said:
“I just want to tell my daughter, Elle, I love you, and I wish I was the father in my 20s that you needed and clearly I wasn’t and I hope you can forgive me for my shortcomings."
“I love you completely. I love you entirely."
He added:
“I wish you the best. I feel terrible and I just want you to know that I don’t take anything you say personally."
You can see a clip of the interview here.
Reactions were mixed. Some thought his apology was commendable.
Last week, King, who was primarily raised by her mother, American model London King, slammed Schneider for his vocal opposition to the LGBTQ+ and drag community.
Her interview came in the wake of Schneider joining the chorus of enraged conservatives who criticized the controversial depiction of the Greek festival they claimed was a "satanic" interpretation of da Vinci's The Last Supper.
Schneider said at the time that he was boycotting the Olympics because he claimed the global competition event "disrespects Christianity and openly celebrates Satan" with its opening ceremony performance that featured "guys with their genitalia hanging out in front of children."
King, who made her acting debut alongside her father in the 1999 sex comedy film Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, responded to her father's comments, saying:
“I disagree with a lot of the things he says, You’re talking out of your a** and you’re talking s**t about drag and anti-gay rights. He’s just talking out of his a** and I want to take this opportunity to say I disagree. I do not agree with what he says.”
She also touched on the impression Schneider made on her while growing up.
The "Ex's & Oh's" singer said:
“If I would ever spend a summer with my dad it would be on a movie set. I would just get lost in the shuffle. If I ever messed up a shot, if I was ever talking, I would get in trouble."
She also said Schneider was very critical of her being overweight and sent her to join a program where she was fed a “slice of turkey and steamed vegetables” for meals and forced to work out "all day long."
King continued:
“I was, like, a really, really, heavy child. My dad sent me to fat camp. And then I got in trouble one year because I sprained my ankle, and I didn’t lose any weight. Very toxic and very silly." ...
“It got to a point where I didn’t want to spend the summer with him.”
Another point of contention centered on King's tattoos. Her father disapproved of them to the extent that she had to cover her arms with a sweater during a summer heat wave.
“(He) was very anti-tattoos, or, like, any form of self-expression that differed from what he wanted for me,” said the four-time Grammy nominee. “Not that he ever thought about me.”
King also mentioned she and her father went "four or five years” without speaking, after which she signed her first record deal leading to her debut single, "Good To Be A Man", released on March 13, 2012.
She told Bunnie Xo:
“He never helped me. I never wanted his help. He also didn’t have a very good reputation. I don’t want to be associated with him.”
She said of her father's overall character:
"He's just not nice. You can want someone to change so much [but] you can't control people's actions, you can't control people's feelings, all you can control is how you react and what you do with your feelings. Sometimes I boil over and I f**king bust my lid."
While King has not responded to the apologetic statement, a strong majority of social media users were unconvinced of Schneider's sincerity.
King is a single mother to her 2-year-old son, Lucky, who she had with her ex, Dan Tooker, a tattoo artist.
She is determined to be a different parent from her father simply by showing up.
“My dad forgot about every single birthday,” she said, recalling the disappointing day she officially became an adult.
“I spent my 18th birthday in a summer school and they brought me cupcakes and when I came home, my dad had forgotten."
"I put every ounce of my being into my son’s birthday because I know how it feels to be forgotten on your birthday,” she said.
She is currently on her Come Get Your Wife tour featuring the music from the eponymous third album.
In February, five of her shows were unceremoniously postponed after a cringey viral performance at a birthday concert for country music legend Dolly Parton, who defended King amidst the controversy.
Schneider remains a controversial figure in entertainment due to his ultra-conservative views.
During a fundraising event in Saskatchewan, the comedian was removed from the stage by event organizers in the middle of the set when he made jokes about vaccines, women, and transgender people.
His performance at another event for the Senate Working Group during the holiday season last year was also cut short due to offensive material in his standup show.
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