A couple of years ago I was sitting in the audience when a speaker used the the r word. She was a competent and dynamic speaker and frankly, I was shocked. And while she continued speaking without missing a beat, I was already mentally preparing in my head what I was going to say to her privately at the next break. I planned to tell her that I found that word offensive and not appropriate.
As the speaker wound down and segued into a break, she surprised me. She took the time to circle back to her earlier comment and apologize. She said it simply, plainly and, to my assessment, genuinely. It wasn't overly apologetic and she didn't rationalize her use of the word in any way. She didn't equivocate and say that she apologized if she had offended anyone. She simply apologized.
Now she could have apologized immediately and that would have been okay too. I suspect, if it had been me, I would have been quite flustered and overly emotional if I had attempted to apologize immediately. I would like to think that as she finished up that segment of her speech, she was quickly rehearsing in her mind how she would handle the apology.
We all misspeak. We all make mistakes. Own up to yours and simply apologize if it's appropriate.
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