Joan Rivers won't apologize for her joke about the Cleveland kidnapping victims

Rob Kim/Getty Images

Joan Rivers won't apologize for her joke about the Cleveland kidnapping victims
(Image credit: Rob Kim/Getty Images)

Joan Rivers has made it clear: She's not apologizing for the joke she made on NBC's Today show Tuesday about the three women kidnapped and held captive for a decade in Cleveland.

While promoting her reality show Joan and Melissa: Joan Knows Best, Rivers said that she did not enjoy living in such close quarters with her daughter, Melissa Rivers. "Those women in the basement in Cleveland had more space," she quipped.

Her joke didn't seem to go over well with her daughter or any of the hosts, and it certainly fell flat with Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus, two of the three women who were rescued from Ariel Castro's house of horrors in 2013. Their attorneys said that it was a new low for Rivers, and asked for an apology.

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"I'm a comedienne," Rivers told The Cleveland Plain Dealer when asked for comment. "I know what those girls went through. It was a little, stupid joke. There is nothing to apologize for. I made a joke. That's what I do. Calm down. Calm f—ing down. I'm a comedienne. They're free, so let's move on." Watch the video below to hear the gag. --Catherine Garcia

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.