Havard: No repentence for stripper weight 'joke'

BATON ROUGE —- Channeling presidential candidate Donald Trump, Rep. Kenny Havard, R-Jackson, said Thursday he would not publically apologize for his controversial amendment, deemed sexist by some legislators, though he would “probably” make individual apologies to women legislators who were offended.
“Political correctness is killing this country,” Havard said. “I don’t know why we feel like we have to apologize for having a different opinion.”
The amendment, which Havard withdrew, put a maximum age of 28 and 160 pound weight limit on strippers in a bill that was intended to protect young women from human trafficking that surrounds strip clubs. The bill mandated that no one under 21 could dance in a strip club.
Havard said the amendment was intended to be a satirical commentary on overregulation. Despite this, Havard voted for and co-authored the bill.
“I didn’t want to be the only sucker that didn’t vote for the bill,” Havard said. “I probably shouldn’t have voted for the bill.”
Senate Bill 468 from Sen. Ronnie Johns, R-Lake Charles, was designed to combat human trafficking. That put a joke like Havard’s in a no-go zone for Rep. Julie Stokes, R-Kenner, who said his insensitivity is part of a larger problem in the House.
“There is something about the culture in (the House) that made him think it was okay to do that” she said.
National media outlets like the Washington Post, New York Magazine and Slate picked up the story. Havard said “it must be a slow news day” and asked reporters to refocus on more pressing issues, like the state deficit.
State leadership from Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards to Republican Speaker of the House Taylor Barras said Havard stepped over the line and ought to apologize. Barras and Havard met to talk about the issue, but Havard said Barras did not ask him to apologize.
Havard was not in the House chamber on Thursday. He said had a business meeting planned weeks and had tried to catch the end of the House session. He spoke to the news media less than hour after the House adjourned for the weekend.