A miserable Norm Macdonald goes on The View: 'I never did anything'

Norm Macdonald went on The View to try to dig himself out of the hole he's gotten himself into while promoting his new Netflix talk show.

Looking utterly miserable, Macdonald tried to explain his strew of publicity tour blunders, first starting with his controversial #MeToo comments.

"What I was talking about was Chris Hardwick, a particular comedian, a friend of mine. And if 500 women go against a man obviously the guy is guilty. In Chris Hardwick's case, it's one woman against one man. So I was saying I thought it was good … Chris Hardwick is as rehabilitated as you can get. Yet he still tells me he can't walk down the street without people yelling stuff at him."

Co-host Joy Behar said due process is important and that women agree with that. But then said he lost her when he suggested the hardship Louis C.K. went through was equal to his victims.

"Yeah, that's not what I was saying," Macdonald said. "When this went down with Roseanne I called her the next day and she was crying the whole time. I was worried about her. She seemed really in a bad place. I said, 'I can't talk to you about this, I've never been through anything like this' and I know Louis and he's been through this and has had everything taken from him …. you should talk." And [the reporter asked,] 'What about the victims?' and I said, "Well, the victims haven't gone through this. This particular event. Of course, the victims have gone through worse than that. But am I going to get a victim to phone Roseanne?"

Then he was asked about the comment he made on Howard Stern's show, where he said, "You'd have to have Down syndrome" not to feel sorry for victims of sexual abuse.

"It's always bad when you have to apologize for the apology," Macdonald said. "There used to be a word we would all say to mean stupid that we wouldn't say any more. You know the word I'm talking about? Stupidly I was about to say that word and I stopped and [wondered] what the right word was to say, and I said a different word that was equally [offensive]. I realized at that moment I said something unforgivable…The remark I made about people with Down syndrome is terrible."

Macdonald was also asked about his appearance on NBC's Tonight Show being canceled, noting that staffers were crying behind the scenes. Was he surprised by that reaction? "I have been surprised. I never did anything. I don't want to be tossed in with people who did—not crimes, but sins. I barely have consensual sex."

Previously, the actor-comedian was slammed for expressing sympathy for Roseanne Barr and Louis C.K. in an interview: "There are very few people that have gone through what they have, losing everything in a day. Of course, people will go, 'What about the victims?' But you know what? The victims didn't have to go through that …All their work in their entire life being wiped out in a single day, a moment …I'm happy the #MeToo movement has slowed down a little bit. It used to be, 'One hundred women can't be lying.' And then it became, 'One woman can't lie.' And that became, 'I believe all women.' And then you're like, 'What?' Like, that Chris Hardwick guy I really thought got the blunt end of the stick there."

And the end of the interview, Macdonald added, all downtrodden like a busted schoolboy, "I hope I didn't offend any of you guys," and The View hosts assured him they were fine.

Here's a clip from Macdonald on the show:

Macdonald's new show, Norm Macdonald Has a Show, premieres Friday.