The Irish Embassy in Washington, D.C., has postponed a planned reception that was set to honor journalist Mark Halperin and his fellow podcast co-hosts after multiple invitees reportedly urged embassy officials to cancel the event because of Halperin’s history of sexual misconduct allegations.
The reception had been scheduled for July 15 and was intended to recognize the permanent co-hosts of 2Way’s The Morning Meeting podcast: Mark Halperin, Larry O’Connor, and Kevin Walling.
According to Politico Playbook, guests received an email from the embassy on Tuesday informing them that the event would no longer take place as scheduled.
“Regrettably due to unforeseen circumstances, this event is postponed and will not take place on 15 July as previously advised,” the embassy wrote in its notice to attendees.
The embassy did not publicly elaborate on what those unforeseen circumstances were.
However, Politico reported that two people with direct knowledge of the planning process said several invitees contacted Irish Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason and members of the embassy staff to object to the event because of Halperin’s past misconduct allegations. According to the report, those individuals urged officials to cancel the reception.
The controversy stems from allegations that surfaced in 2017 involving Halperin’s time as political director at ABC News between 1994 and 2004.
More than a dozen women accused Halperin of sexual misconduct during that period. The allegations included claims that he pressured female subordinates into sexual relationships, masturbated in front of a female colleague, grabbed a colleague’s breasts, and engaged in other unwanted physical contact.
Halperin has disputed some of the allegations made against him.
When the accusations became public in 2017, Halperin issued a statement apologizing for aspects of his past behavior.
He acknowledged that some of his conduct had been inappropriate and said it had caused pain to others.
Halperin also admitted that he had pursued “relationships with women that I worked with, including some junior to me.”
At the same time, he maintained that some of the allegations were false, although he did not address the individual claims one by one.
Before the allegations emerged, Halperin had built a high-profile career in political journalism and was widely recognized for his work across several major media organizations.
He served as a political analyst for NBC News, made regular appearances on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, and co-hosted Showtime’s political program The Circus.
The planned embassy reception would have recognized Halperin alongside O’Connor and Walling for their work as permanent co-hosts of The Morning Meeting podcast.
Following news that the event had been postponed, several of those connected to the gathering declined to comment.
According to Politico, O’Connor and a spokesperson for the Irish Embassy both declined requests for comment regarding the decision to postpone the reception.
Halperin and Walling also did not respond to requests for comment, the outlet reported.
The embassy has not announced whether the event will be rescheduled at a later date or provided additional details beyond its statement citing unforeseen circumstances.
The decision came after reported objections from invitees who raised concerns about honoring Halperin in light of the allegations that became public in 2017. Those allegations, along with Halperin’s public apology and continued denial of some claims, remain at the center of the controversy surrounding the now-postponed event.
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