Daisey, who helped Public Radio International's This American Life adapt his one-man show, "The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs," into an hour-long radio documentary, wrote a post in which he says he stands by his apology but that he "will not go silent." He says he'll make a "full accounting" of how he created his show, presumably revealing which details are true and which ones he took dramatic license with.
Daisey also had a few things to say to This American Life host Ira Glass, who retracted the show that was based on Daisey's play, then aired an hour-long episode Friday night that explained the retraction. In it, Glass, along with NPR China correspondent Rob Schmitz, interrogated Daisey in about his lies, a segment Daisey calls "excruciating."
"I thought the dead air was a nice touch, and finishing the episode with audio pulled out of context from my performance was masterful," Daisey writes. "That’s Ira’s choice, and it’s his show. He’s a storyteller within the context of radio journalism, and I am a storyteller in the theater."
Daisey points out in his post that he really did go to China and stand outside the Foxconn factory, and he says none of the criticism directed at him contests "the facts in my work about the nature of Chinese manufacturing," although he doesn't specify which facts he's talking about.
Daisey apparently has played fast and loose with the truth before. His 15-year career as a monologuist includes other works, including a book and show called "21 Dog Years," based on time he spent as an Amazon employee. In an interview with The Seattle Weekly, Daisey said he saw CEO Jeff Bezos every day, but a former coworker now disputes that claim.
After apologizing to the radio listeners, Daisey says he believes that the truth is vitally important, and that the story being told should be subordinate to the truth. While he says he sometimes falls short of that goal, he will continue to try to achieve it.