Katie Couric Admits Mistake, Makes Amends On ‘Gender Revolution’


Tonight, everyone will get to see Katie Couric’s big special called Gender Revolution: A Journey with Katie Couric. It will air on Monday night on National Geographic, and you do not want to miss this two-hour special. Now Katie is speaking out and admitting that she made a mistake back in 2014 when speaking to a transgender model and this show is part of the way that she is making her amends. The Daily Beast shared some about what Couric had to say now years later.

This all started on her ABC daytime talk show Katie when she asked a couple of questions that were considered insensitive. Katie asked things like “Was the whole process painful, physically, for you?” and “Your private parts are different now, aren’t they?” while talking to Carmen Carrera. Orange is the New Black star Laverne Cox defended Carrera in the next segment. Katie Couric admits that she felt terrible about it and didn’t mean for this to happen. It was all pre-recorded, and she could have even taken it off, but she didn’t. Katie explained her thoughts.

“I discussed it with Laverne [Cox] and I wanted, maybe foolishly, to use myself as an example to really have a teachable moment on the show. That was my intent and I guess I did it at the expense of making myself seem like an insensitive buffoon—which I guess I was.”

There was no way that Katie Couric wanted this to be her last time she talked about this issue, and so now she has done the special Gender Revolution: A Journey with Katie Couric. She said, “I think that I made a mistake. And I wanted to make sure that people knew that I recognized I made a mistake.” Laverne Cox also came back to talk to her on Katie that year.

Now everyone will get to see Katie talk on Gender Revolution. This won’t the only time that Katie will talk about transgender issues, though. She is also interviewing a transgender boy scout next week. Katie went on to share her thoughts.

“I’m interested in showing the very human side of any misunderstood or marginalized segment of the population. I have tried my entire career to inform people or enlighten people or to give people a voice who don’t have a voice.”

EW shared a bit about what you can expect to see tonight on Gender Revolution. One person you will meet is Gavin Grimm, a transgender teen from Gloucester High School in Virginia who spoke before his school board regarding his right to use the men’s room. They did end up saying that he couldn’t use it, but could use any of the unisex bathrooms, but Gavin wasn’t okay with that answer. You even get to see part of his speech and here is a portion of what he has to say.

“I have been aware of who I was since I was a very young kid and it’s taken me a very long time to be able to be myself and be okay with that. The person that I am now, being able to have all of my rights in full, is such a massive, dynamic difference from the person I was just last summer. I would like to say too, that if the evidence said that me using the boys’ room would be catastrophic, I would not be advocating for myself.”

Are you happy to see Katie Couric doing this show and not shying away from the issues? Sound off in the comments section below on your thoughts, and don’t miss watching Gender Revolution: A Journey with Katie Couric on Monday, February 6th at 9 p.m./8 p.m. Central on the National Geographic channel.

[Featured Image by Brad Barket/Getty Images for National Geographic]

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