"How is it possible I want to punch you more now than before you apologized?"
"I said it's too late to apologize."
— OneRepublic, "Apologize"
Bob did something terrible to Alice. He feels guilty (possibly even immediately after offending her), so he gives her a sincere apology. However, Alice won't have it. She doesn't care about the apology. Whether Bob's actions were that bad or Alice is just a spiteful Jerkass who holds grudges, she refuses to forgive him.
This results from someone holding a grudge that they refuse to let go of. Unfortunately, this can make out someone who has a rightful reason to be angry into a cruel person if the apologizing party is sincerely guilty for their actions. On the other hand, it may not take away much, if any sympathy at all, if the person who's apologizing has committed wicked deeds that were too numerous or too horrible to deserve forgiveness, and in extreme cases can even make the apologizer look like a total, selfish jerk for thinking one sorry is enough to make up for a lifetime of atrocities, especially if said "apology" was disproportionate and half-hearted. There are times when even the apologies themselves could be an even bigger insult than the original offense, especially if they believe a single apology will undo all damages. It could even be the victim knows the person is only apologizing because they are trying to convince the victim not to punish them for their actions and the person isn't honestly sorry for what they did. Other times, it could be that the apologizer knows perfectly well that what they did was awful and that their apology will be rejected, but they still felt the need for it to be said as a means of closure.
In a rare occurrence, sometimes the rejected apology was coerced by outside parties. In the event of this, the one apologizing is shown as more sympathetic due to receiving harsh treatment from both sides and the rejecter is portrayed as even more jerkish and completely unreasonable, however fair that may be. In some cases, however, the fact that the apology was clearly enforced and not sincere is exactly why it was rejected. In really tearjerking occasions, the incident that led to the rejecter being angry was a complete misunderstanding, but the rejecter refuses to listen to or maybe even believe the apologizing party's explanation. In more extreme cases, the rejecter might even turn down the apology while on the rejecter’s deathbed to deliberately spite the one apologizing with Parting-Words Regret.
The opposite of Redemption Rejection, where the one who did wrong is offered a chance to be forgiven, but he turns it down. A super trope of Reformed, but Rejected. An extreme version of this trope is Heel–Face Door-Slam, which happens if rejecting an apology also involves killing the offender. Contrast Turn the Other Cheek, where it's a character forgiving those who don't apologize for their actions. Sometimes, the victim gives a Flippant Forgiveness, where the victim accepts their offender's apology in a sarcastic, insulting way. If the character does accept their apology but is still upset by their actions, then it's Forgiven, but Not Forgotten. Contrast The Unapologetic, where the wrongdoer refuses to apologize (for this case, having their apology rejected or knowing that it will be rejected by the other party can be a reason why they refuse to apologize, especially if they know deep down they're not truly sorry for what they've done). See No Sympathy for Grudgeholders where this may or may not be a fitting response to the character's lack of forgiveness. This can often be part of the "The Reason You Suck" Speech if the rejection is extremely harsh. Virtue Is Weakness might come to play in that the rejecter might see forgiveness as a sign of weakness. If the apologizer acts equally standoffish and recants their apology after being rejected (either due to arrogantly expecting forgiveness or hypocrisy on the refuser's end), Then Let Me Be Evil is what they may commit. Often found in many Downer Endings, and few Bittersweet Endings. See also The Forgiven Offer Forgiveness.
Sadly, this is Truth in Television — whether or not the offender is truly regretful or that the person who was offended has always held on to grudges.
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Anime & Manga
- Played With to "Denied Permission to Feel Remorse" in Attack on Titan with the main character Eren and his rigid views of morality. When Reiner expresses guilt for his crimes, it only enrages Eren even further, since he sees him as a monster who isn't allowed to feel remorse. It takes Eren four years time, with him learning the truth about the world, about Marley, and the entire context behind why the Warrior trio destroyed Wall Maria in the first place within those four years, before he can finally forgive Reiner.
- In Bloom Into You, Sayaka Saeki had a Gay Romantic Phase with Chie Yuzuki, her sempai from middle school, until Chie suddenly broke off their relationship one day, saying that they were getting too old for it. When the two met by chance while Sayaka was in high school, Chie apologized for getting Sayaka interested in girls and hoped that she had gone back to normal. Sayaka then tells Chie that she shouldn't worry, since she doesn't know why she got interested in Chie in the first place, an outwardly polite remark that expresses that she has not forgiven Chie.
- Digimon:
- Dub Text in Digimon Tamers final episode (and a bit of Lost in Translation). When the Juggernaut program that was used to defeat the D-Reaper forces the Digimon to return to the digital world, Henry's dad, who knew it would happen, asks him if he can forgive him, and Henry sadly shakes his head. (In the original, the head shake meant "don't worry about it").
- There's also Digimon Adventure 02, where Osamu Ichijouji does this to his little brother Ken after having caught him using the Digivice they found without his permission (the digivice belonged to Ken, but neither of the brothers knew this). Eventually, this causes Ken to snap that he wishes for him to disappear, and his wish came true when Osamu got run over by a car.
- Dragon Ball Z: In the Buu arc, Goten and Trunks yell at Goku for not being there to help Gohan and Vegeta against Buu, unaware that he was unconscious. He tries to apologize, but they say "Sorry" isn't good enough.
- Despite popular belief, Kouta did not accept Lucy's apology at the end of Elfen Lied. Understandable, since what she is apologizing for is basically the murder of his sister and father. While he does say that he cannot hate Lucy, he just can't forgive that she killed his family or condone her actions as a whole.
- Inverted in Fruits Basket. When Kyo admits to Tohru that he failed to save her mother Kyoko, she refuses to say "I don't forgive you". Strangely enough, he takes this worse than if she had rejected his apology, since he feels like she shouldn't forgive him for it because Kyoko apparently didn't. The penultimate chapter reveals that Kyoko was actually warning him to keep his promise to look after Tohru if anything happened to her, but she was only able to say she wouldn't forgive him.
- A Little Snow Fairy Sugar: In a variation of this trope, Sugar tries to smooth things over with Saga after getting on eachother's nerves for so long, by writing an apology to her. While Saga already had the same idea, what Sugar does backfires from a combination of choosing the worst thing possible to write on, and her writing itself consisting of random shapes that Saga had no way to identify as a message, let alone an apology. Not just annoyed anymore, Saga promptly orders Sugar out of her house, but does bring the issue up with Salt and Pepper the next day, the latter of whom reads Sugar's writing to her and leads up to an actual reconciliation... followed by more, unrelated bickering later on.
- Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story: Before meeting Kuro, Kuroe is shown rejecting someone's texted apology twice before blocking them, although it's never explored what the other person actually did.
- Monster Musume: Smith apologizes to Rachnera for placing her with a family that didn't fully accept her, but Rachnera brushes it off while saying her negligence and inconsideration of her needs was what got her into that mess, adding that the coordinator's apology had no sincerity to it.
- My Hero Academia:
- Endeavor is an Abusive Parent who sees the errors of his ways and attempts to apologize to his family for what he has done. Out of them, Natsuo vocally refuses to acknowledge that apology, while Shoto is more or less neutral to it, unable to forget all that his father has done, but acknowledging that he's a great hero and that people can change. Then there’s his eldest son Toya, who became the mass-murdering villain Dabi. Endeavor attempts to offer him an apology but Dabi is having none of it — he is not only out to destroy society as a whole along with the rest of the final villains, he's specifically out to destroy Endeavor's life and legacy.
- Overhaul is a member of a yakuza group who wants to repay his boss and Parental Substitute's kindness by returning their organization to its former glory. Unfortunately, the boss disapproves of Overhaul's methods, which involve horrifically abusing the boss's beloved granddaughter Eri to create Quirk-destroying bullets from her body parts, so Overhaul puts the boss into a coma so he won't be able to interfere. After being defeated by the heroes, having his arms (and ability to use his Quirk) destroyed by the League of Villains and arrested, Overhaul is left a shell of his former self, only wanting to see the boss so he can apologize to him. In the last few chapters, an imprisoned Overhaul gets a visit from his boss, who reveals that he disbanded his organization, the one thing Overhaul wanted to prevent. The boss then tells Overhaul he will never forgive him, and will visit him every day to chastise him for the rest of his life.
- Discussed in My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!'s spinoff manga On the Verge of Doom!. When Catarina comes to Mary for advice on how to properly apologize to Keith for all the things she did to him before her Past-Life Memories awoke(unlike in canon, this happens in adolescence, rather than early childhood), Mary tells her that as someone who was also bullied by older siblings her entire life, she would find it extremely difficult to even consider such an apology. She turns out to be completely right, as Keith becomes furious when Catarina tries to apologize to him and calls him "little brother" after years of treating him like dirt.
- In One Piece, the Straw Hat crew's ship Going Merry was beyond repair and Luffy came to the conclusion to discard it and buy a new ship. Usopp, who was injured by their former-enemy-later-crewmate Franky, objects to the idea and insists on keeping it, thus an argument breaks out. In a fit of anger, Luffy says that if Usopp won't accept his decision, he can just leave, leading Sanji to kick him in the face and demand that Luffy think before he speaks. Luffy comes to his senses and apologizes, but the damage was done, and therefore, Usopp refuses to accept his apology and walks out on the crew.
- In A Place Further than the Universe, the reason Hinata had to drop out of school is because she'd been picked to run for her team over some of the third-years, apparently at her friends' urging, and when said third-years got angry, her friends betrayed her, spreading rumors about her and forcing her to leave. When her friends send a message to the Antarctic expedition acting like nothing's wrong and that they're still friends, Hinata is extremely upset, although she tries to hide it. Eventually, when pressed, Hinata admits that she doesn't want to see them act relieved if she forgives them, prompting Shirase to give them a "The Reason You Suck" Speech on her behalf.
- Sailor Moon: In the Feud Episode of SuperS, Minako ruins the decorations of Chibiusa's school's cultural festival, Makoto is so hurt that she angrily breaks off their friendship and refuses to accept her apology. They do make up, though.
- In Strawberry Fields Once Again, a surprising example comes up near the end. Hotaru, who has since come to terms with her ex-husband Midori leaving her for his First Love Aoi gets rather annoyed when Midori acts guilty over this, making it clear that Midori is not forgiven, although she wants Midori to look after Akira and Ruri after her death.
- The Summer You Were There: Five years before the start of the series, Shizuku bullied her classmate Ruri, making cutting remarks about the latter's frequent absences from school (which caused her to lag behind her classmates in athletics and academics) and eventually pushing her while she was carrying curry, causing Shizuku to be ostracized as a bully. During the main story, Shizuku, at the urging of her "girlfriend" and Ruri's friend Kaori, drafts an apology letter and meets with Ruri to give it to her in person. Ruri politely tells Shizuku that the trauma from Shizuku's bullying has never gone away, and she wants nothing more to do with Shizuku. Shizuku, despite having hoped Ruri would forgive her, understands that Ruri suffered more and accepts her decision. Later on, though, Ruri sees that Shizuku has changed and hopes to get to know her better- not necessarily because she's forgiven her but in the hopes that doing so can help her get over her trauma. Shizuku then apologizes once again, an apology Ruri seems to accept. The epilogue a few years after the end of the series shows that Shizuku still sees Ruri, along with Seri and Shiori, once a year, although they're not necessarily close friends.
Comic Books
- Action Comics: At the climax of The Black Ring, Lex Luthor has achieved Enlightenment Superpowers and genuinely made the universe into a better place. And all he has to do to keep them is stop hating Superman. When Superman realises this, he desperately apologises for anything he's done that ever upset Luthor, but that only makes him angrier.
- Green Arrow: Lian Harper died in Justice League: Cry for Justice during the earthquake which levelled most of Star City thanks to Prometheus's malfunctioning teleporter, as a result of being left alone by Speedy (Mia Dearden) while she went to fight the Electrocutioner. The follow-up series Justice League The Rise Of Arsenal shows Mia trying to apologize to Roy Harper at Lian's burial, which results in him trying to strangle her as he calls her out on leaving Lian when she did. While this is meant to be shown as Roy Jumping Off the Slippery Slope in his descent into bloody antiheroism, it's hard not to sympathize considering Mia chose the worst possible time and place to ask Roy to forgive her for the role she played, unintentional or not, in his child's very violent death.
- Impulse: At the end of the 31st issue, Max Mercury tries to apologize to David Claiborne in gratitude of his assistance in defeating his enemy Dr. Morlo, but it doesn't go over well.
Max Mercury: David, I'm sorry for the way things worked out. I...
David Claiborne: Save it, Max. You're still the man who ruined my life. - Kelly Green: In the first graphic novel The Go Between by Leonard Starr and Stan Drake, Kelly is kneeling beside the dying body of her husband's killer It was Dan Green's partner Angie who ask her to forgive him. She asked if he believes in God; when he affirms as much, she declares that means he can go to Hell and walks away.
- Loki: In Loki: Agent of Asgard #10, Loki finally confessed and tried to apologize for what they did in Journey into Mystery (Gillen) (murdered and body-snatched their own child self), and Thor understandably snapped, and barely restrained himself from killing him. Tragically, Loki not only meant it but knew that he deserved every bit of what he got, not lifting a finger to fight back.
- Lucifer: When things go very wrong in Fenris' plan to destroy everything seems like it will succeed, a dying Michael begs Lucifer to forgive him for everything that's happened between them. Lucifer refuses... because Lucifer blames his own mistakes for this. As far as he's concerned, none of this is Michael's fault.
- In the first run of New Mutants, Karma suffers Demonic Possession at the hands of Shadow King for months, and is turned into a Fat Bastard like his usual host Amahl Farouk. Much later on in New Mutants (2019), Farouk joins the other mutants on Krakoa after having seemingly exorcised Shadow King with Karma still traumatized by what happened to her, but he ends up becoming the Arc Villain of Volume 2 when it's revealed that he wasn't fully cured. After Shadow King is finally removed, Farouk becomes The Atoner and the New Mutants see him off as he leaves for rehab. While Wolfsbane tells him You Are Better Than You Think You Are, Karma asserts that she still doesn't forgive him for what he did (or at least, helped do) to her, but regardless she and the others will support his efforts to change.
- Spider-Man:
- In The Death of Jean DeWolff, when the Sin-Eater is finally cornered and left barely conscious by Spider-Man, he weakly apologises for his murders. By this point, however, Spidey is well beyond a forgiving mood and continues to whale on the killer while reminding him of his victims.
Spider-Man: Sorry?! Don't give me sorry! Tell it to the judge! Or to the priest! Or better yet — tell it to Jean DeWolff!
- In a pretty realistic example, Aunt May was at first unwilling to forgive the Vulture when he pleaded for forgiveness for killing her boyfriend Nathan Lubinski. (He was dying, and sought to tie up loose ends.) His first attempt ended with her slapping him and ordering him to leave (he did, but not for long). When it was clear that his remorse was heavily tainted with hypocrisy (he had also committed several murders as part of tying up "the loose ends") Spidey beat him to a pulp, dragged him back to May's house, and made him apologize for everything he did. May still didn't accept it. She dealt with her inner pain eventually, and visited him in jail, where she stated that she wasn't unwilling to understand, she couldn't bring herself to forgive him, simply saying it was between him and God. (Unfortunately, future stories showed it was lost on him.)
- In The Death of Jean DeWolff, when the Sin-Eater is finally cornered and left barely conscious by Spider-Man, he weakly apologises for his murders. By this point, however, Spidey is well beyond a forgiving mood and continues to whale on the killer while reminding him of his victims.
- Star Wars: Variation in Star Wars: Legacy. Darth Wyyrlok says that he isn't going to apologize for trying to murder Darth Krayt. Krayt replied that he wouldn't accept any apologies, either. A duel to the death ensues.
- The Transformers: All Hail Megatron: After the Autobots are left stranded on Cybertron with Optimus Prime near death, Ironhide accuses Mirage of being a traitor and attacks him, specifically targeting his Autobot insignia and wrecking it. After he finds out that he was wrong and Mirage was loyal the whole time, he tries to apologize and even offers his own Autobot insignia as a replacement but Mirage understandably has no interest in accepting either one.
Fan Works
- Vow of Nudity: When Spectra learns that Professor Goldgrass, her abjuration professor, is singling her out for abuse because Spectra's parents killed her husband during a failed bank robbery before Spectra was born, she's quick to apologize for her parents' actions and promise she feels terrible about what her family did to Goldgrass' late husband. Goldgrass rejects her apology and vows to continue her vindictive behavior, pointing out that Spectra could have come apologize at any time in the last 22 years, and is only doing so now because Goldgrass is forcing her hand.
Films — Animated
- After "totaling a mammoth" in Brother Bear, Rutt refuses to accept Tuke's apology and declares their brotherhood over, even going as far as to say that Koda is his new brother. But after a heartfelt talk between the two moose, they feel happy again and walk off.
- In The Incredibles, Mr. Incredible apologizes to Syndrome for the slight that put him on the path to supervillainy. Syndrome answers "See? Now you respect me. Because I'm a threat," and continues monologuing. Mr. Incredible realizes that Syndrome can't be reasoned with, and starts throwing stuff at him.
- Perhaps one of the most heartbreaking examples was in Kung Fu Panda, when during the climactic battle between Shifu and Tai Lung, Shifu apologizes to Tai Lung for allowing him to go down his path of darkness, only for Tai Lung to reject it and demand the dragon scroll.
Tai Lung: I don't want your apology. I WANT MY SCROLL!
- Lilo and Stitch: Lilo tries to apologize to Mertle for attacking her, but she rejects it.
Lilo: I'm sorry I bit you... and pulled your hair... and punched you in the face.
Mertle: Apology NOT accepted. Now get out of my way before I run you over!
(Stitch then pushes Mertle off of her trike) - The Lion King: Scar, when being confronted and stalked by the hyenas after they reveal they know that he tried to blame them for the plot to murder Mufasa and the attempted murder of a then-child Simba. As he tries to beg for mercy, one of the last things he cried out is "I'm sorry", but all it does is make the hyenas jump him moments later and maul him to death.
- The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea: During the climax, when Ariel tries to apologize and explain herself to Melody for lying to her about her mermaid heritage her whole life, Melody tells her point-blank that it's "too late" and spitefully hands the trident over to Morgana. Immediately afterward, Morgana reveals her true colors to Melody and why Ariel did what she did. In the end, Melody does accept the apology.
- The Nightmare Before Christmas: Santa Claus angrily, and somewhat understandably, rejects Jack's apology for hijacking his holiday and just storms off to clean his mess. However, he does eventually come around and show forgiveness by bringing Christmas snow to Halloween Town.
- In Turning Red, Miriam initially rejects Mei's apology for betraying her, Abby, and Priya. However, after returning Robaire Jr to Mei, she accepts the apology.
Film — Live-Action
- Beast (2017): Late in the film, Moll approaches and tries to apologise to her high school bully for stabbing her. Though shocked, the woman seems willing to accept it, saying it happened over a decade ago...until Moll says she was only "defending (herself)". The woman doesn't take this well, becoming distraught and furiously ordering Moll to leave.
- In the 2007 film Bridge to Terabithia, Jess Aarons tried to apologize to his younger sister, May Belle, for pushing her because he was angry about the death of Leslie Burke, and tells her he misses her talking to him, only for May Belle to ignore his apology by turning away from him.
- In the Laurel and Hardy film, The Bullfighters, a secretary told them that they can't apologize to Richard K. Muldoon. Instead, he will skin them alive for revenge.
- In Crazy Heart, Bad Blake tries to call his son after being absent for all of his life, only to find he wants absolutely nothing to do with him, and that during the time he had been gone, his ex-wife had died. Blake doesn't take it well.
- From Duck Soup:
Trentino: I'm sorry we lost our tempers. I'm willing to forget if you are.
Firefly: Forget? You ask me to forget... Why, my ancestors would rise from their graves... and I'd only have to bury them again... A Firefly never forgets.
Trentino: I am willing to apologize... I'm willing to do anything to prevent this war.
Firefly: Nothing doing!! I've taken a lease on the battlefield. I'd lose my deposit, besides, I've already ordered the ammunition.
Vera: Oh, Your Excellency, isn't there something I can do?
Firefly: Yes, but I'll talk to you about that when we're alone.
Mrs. Teasdale: Oh, won't you reconsider.
Firefly: Well, maybe I am a little headstrong... But, you know, it's awfully hard to forget what he called me.
Trentino: What I called you... Why, what did I call you?
Firefly: I don't remember.
Trentino: (with a little chuckle) Oh — you mean... worm?
Firefly: No, that wasn't it...
Trentino: Was it — swine?
Firefly: No... it was a seven letter word.
Trentino: (thinking, then with a broad smile) Oh yes! — UPSTART!
Firefly: That's it...
(takes gloves from Trentino's breast pocket and socks him across the face, and puts them in his own breast pocket; Trentino becomes apoplectic)
Trentino: Why — er — Mrs. Teasdale — this is an outrage! This man is impossible... My course is clear... this means war! - At the conclusion of Gone with the Wind, having finally realized that she loves Rhett, Scarlett repeatedly apologizes for her ill-treatment of him. But the worn-out (and probably disbelieving) Rhett dismisses her, saying, "My darling, you're such a child. You think that by saying 'I'm sorry', all the past can be corrected."
- Halloween Ends: Played with. When Laurie Strode is grocery shopping, she meets a woman who starts yelling at her. Confused, she asks, "I'm sorry?" as in, "Who are you and what are you talking about?" The woman gets even angrier and yells that sorry isn't good enough before revealing she is one of the many people who blame Laurie for Michael Myers' previous attacks.
- Honey Don't!: Honey coolly turns down her abusive father's attempt to apologize, indicating he's dead to her.
- Kruel: Some time after Elliot goes missing, Jo goes to his mom to once more apologize for losing him (since he vanished while she was babysitting him). However, Elliott's mom bluntly tells her that her apology is meaningless because she's too hurt by Elliott's disappearance.
- In Pitch Perfect, Beca, the protagonist, goes all the way up to her love interest to apologize for being a Jerkass earlier. The love interest doesn't accept or even appear to want one, instead pointing out her flaws in driving people away.
- Perfect Addiction: Jax tries to apologize for cheating on Sienna, but she angrily rejects this.
- Star Wars: At the climax of The Last Jedi, Luke apologizes to Ben Solo/Kylo Ren for failing him as a teacher, leading to Ben's fall to The Dark Side. Ben doesn't even care anymore and says as much, making clear that nothing Luke has to say can dissuade him from destroying the Resistance.
- Stealing Beauty: Defied and Played for Laughs. Alex gets annoyed when he and Lucy walk in on virtually the entire rest of the cast Skinny Dipping in the family pool, and Lucy gets annoyed at his annoyance and storms off. Alex later meets Diana outside the guest house he and Lucy share and asks if he should apologize to her. Diana looks in on Lucy, observes her merrily rocking out to "Olympia" by Hole, and tells Alex, "Darling, I don't think she's giving you too much thought."
- In Tell No One, Anne tearfully apologizes to her brother Alexandre for not telling him Margot - his dead wife, or so everyone thinks - was beat up by Phillipe (whom Marie worked for) before her death. While he lets Marie hug him, all Alexandre says is, "Thanks for telling me", and his total manner is non-forgiving.
- Unforgiven: The film's trouble begins with Mike, a cowboy, savagely carving up a prostitute's face because the girl giggled at his pecker. Mike's partner Davey (who tried to stop the attack when it happened) tries to smooth things over by offering Delilah a prize pony in recompense. Before Delilah can accept or reject the apology, the other prostitutes drive Davey away in a rage. They then put a $1000 bounty on him as well as Mike. This bounty results in Davey being killed, even though he never actually did anything to hurt the girl.
- Subverted in V for Vendetta, where V's last victim is actually sorry for everything she has done to him. She expects him to use this trope, but he tells her it is never too late to apologize and gives her a painless death.
- Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara: When Imran meets his birth father Salman and learns the truth of why he had abandoned him and his mother, he wholly rejects his father's apology.
Salman: I... am sorry, Imran.
Imran: '([crying) No, you're not.
Salman: Is there anything I can do for you?
Imran: (pointing to his heart)'' Apologize only when it comes from here, please.
Literature
- In The Belgariad, Ce'Nedra goes on a ride with two of her friends outside her fortifications in the middle of a warzone. When Hettar goes to bring them back, an enemy tries to kill him with an arrow, only for Ce'Nedra's friend to end up being shot in his stead, nearly dying herself. When Ce'Nedra gets back, Polgara gives her a "The Reason You Suck" Speech that cuts through Ce'Nedra's attempts to deny responsibility for what happened, and leaves Ce'Nedra crying Tears of Remorse. Polgara seems to realize that Ce'Nedra is sorry, but remarks that tears cannot wash out blood and tells her to leave, still angry with her.
- In Divergent, Al is bawling when he attempts to apologize to Tris for assisting in an attempt on her life, after she ranked first. She says that if he ever comes near her again, she'll kill him.
- In Harry Potter, a young Snape tried to apologize to Harry's future mother Lily, who back then was his Only Friend, for having insulted her gravely with racist slurs. She refused to accept it, and it's implied that she had tried to be patient with Snape as he fell in with worse and worse company, but this last offense was her absolute last straw and she decided to cut ties with him.
- Heralds of Rhimn:
- Atevia’s first apology to Meparik. He gives her an earful when she asks him to forgive her of her actions as an Irongardhe knight.
- Later on in the series, Meparik somewhat recants his rejection after Atevia agrees that she is unforgivable. He doesn’t directly forgive her, but he does suggest that he “might maybe forgive her” if she can help him rescue Ainzel. And then she does.
Meparik: You don’t get to say if I can forgive you or not. I get to decide that.
- In Left Behind, Leon Fortunato, when he is brought before Jesus along with Nicolae Carpathia, tries to repent, but Jesus considers him long since sold out to Satan and throws him and Nicolae to Hell along with those who have not chosen to follow Him.
- In Little Women, after Amy burns Jo's book manuscript, Jo rejects her apology and insists that she'll never forgive her. She learns the danger of letting a grudge fester the next day, however, when in her anger she allows Amy to skate on ice she knows is thin, only to be horrified and guilt-ridden when Amy falls through and almost drowns.
- In Poster Girl, after finding out that Grace Ward is dead, Sonya tries to apologize to her family for having been the one who ratted her out of the regime in the first place. But thinking her apology is insincere, the Ward family flat out rejects it.
- The School for Good Mothers: At an evaluation on a lesson about diversity, Frida is partnered with a father. She and her doll outperform Colin and his "son", as she is better informed on issues affecting African-American communities than he is about Asian American communities, and he forgets to address sexism. Afterwards, he accuses "Miss Ivy League" of messing things up for him. When she tries to apologize, he tells her to save it.
- In the Star Wars Legends book Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Exile, Ben Skywalker is called out by an elderly woman for holding up a line. "Sorry," he tells her, but she replies that it doesn't mean anything, that if he were sorry, he wouldn't have done it in the first place. "Sorry," he replies again, and she tells him that he's now just being insolent. "Sorry," he says again, and being a great admirer of Jacen Solo, thinks to himself that he wouldn't be treated this way if he were him. He wonders what he would do. The woman comes up behind him, telling him that he's a very nasty little boy, and he lands on this...
Ben: I take it back. ...My apology. I apologized, but you didn't accept it. You just used it as an excuse to keep being rude. You have the manners of a bantha with digestion problems. If you had children, I hope they were raised by piranha beetles so they'd be nicer than you. (the woman lunges as if to slap him, Ben glares and uses the Force to infuse the suggestion "Try it. See what I become.")
- In Villains Are Destined to Die, Penelope spent years being verbally abused by Reynald, who rejected her as an adopted sister. He even framed her for stealing a valuable necklace early on, which turned the rest of the household against her. Eventually she manages to face him and uses a combination of "The Reason You Suck" Speech, Armor-Piercing Question, and Did You Think I Can't Feel? to make him realize their "rivalry" was entirely one-sided, and she'd done nothing to earn his Irrational Hatred. It works, and instead of killing her as she feared, later on he offers an honest apology for all the harm he did. She calmly replies "I don't want it." The reason why is complicated, but it boils down to the fact that "Penelope" is actually Chia Seiyon, a Korean girl who has reincarnated into Penelope's similarly aged body. She thus considers that the apology should be given to the real or previous Penelope, and even though she herself suffered some amount of abuse by Reynold, she doesn't really care about fixing their relationship or even having one. This further spurs Reynold's character development, since from his POV he comes to think Penelope would rather cut ties with him and he resolves to do better.
- After being bullied by Clear Sky in Warrior Cats: Dawn Of The Clans, Jagged Peak refuses to accept Clear Sky's apology after Gray Wing tells him off.
- We Knew Them: When the Coalition figures out humanity was behind many of their victories in the Brosc war, they go to Earth to offer an official apology and gift of gratitude to make up for all of the mocking they'd received in the years that followed the war. Humanity rejects both and sends the representatives away.
- Zara Hossain Is Here: Travis apologizes multiple times to Zara for his father having shot hers. She thinks it's just to assuage his guilt about it and not helping her though, so she rejects them.
Music
- "Return to Sender" by Elvis Presley is about him writing an apology letter that his girlfriend keeps sending back unopened.
I gave a letter to the postman
He put it in his sack
Bright early next morning
He brought my letter back
She wrote upon it
Return to sender, address unknown
No such number, no such zone
We had a quarrel, a lover's spat
I write "I'm sorry", but my letter keeps coming back. - JoJo: "Too Little Too Late" is another song based on this trope because her likely narcissistic ex is now hoovering her as she is healing. "It's just too little too late, a little too wrong, and I can't wait..."
- Despite her memories with him, Katy Perry burns up an (admittedly half-hearted) apology letter from her former boyfriend for something he did with another woman at the beginning of her "Part of Me" video.
- Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam's "All Cried Out".
Both: Don't you know the hurt will cause an inferno?
Romance up in flames, why should I take the blame?
You were the one who left me neglected.
Male: I'm so sorry.
Female: Apology not accepted, led me to the broken heart you collected. - As quoted above, OneRepublic's song "Apologize" is based entirely on this trope.
- "She's not there" by The Zombies
And it's too late to say you're sorry
How would I know? Why should I care? - "You're Not Sorry" by Taylor Swift, on the basis that she doesn't believe the apology is sincere and has already forgiven the subject of this song a number of times without it resulting in changed behaviour.
And you can tell me that you're sorry but I don't believe you baby like I did before
You're not sorry.
Mythology & Religion
- The Bible: God is generally presented as extremely patient and forgiving, but there is a point where even He will draw the line:
- Samuel rebukes King Saul for disobeying God's commands in destroying every single Amalekite (he only spared the king and their sheep and cattle). Saul sincerely repents, but Samuel tells him that God won't accept it and He has rejected him as king of Israel. (Depending on the interpreter, the reason for the lack of forgiveness varies.)
- Judaism includes a set of rules about the correct way to apologize. Included in those rules is that if you have wronged someone, then you have to apologize to them. You have to try sincerely to apologize up to three times; if they reject all three, you have fulfilled your obligation to your fellow man. Then you have the right to beg final forgiveness from God on Yom Kippur, the annual day of atonement.
- Jesus tells us in the canonical Gospels that any sin committed and blasphemy uttered will be forgiven but blaspheming the Holy Spirit will not. (Matthew 12:31-32, Mark 3:28-29, and Luke 12:10)note For those who don't know what it means to blaspheme the Spirit, it basically means to reject God's gift of salvation, steadfastly refuse to repent, and to continue living in sin for the entirety of your life without a care in the world.
- The Bible also repeatedly warns that one day, there will be a final judgment, and by then, it'll be too late to repent.
- According to almost every form of Christianity and Islam, there is no ministry in hell. It's too late to repent your sins and accept the love of Jesus or God into your heart once you're dead.
Professional Wrestling
- In the WWE, John Laurinaitis demanded an apology from the The Big Show for making fun of his voice, even going as far as forcing him to kneel down and beg for his job. As The Big Show tearfully apologizes, Laurinaitis smugly rejects the apology and fires him anyways.
- In 1998, to help build heat for Vince McMahon's then still-relatively-new persona as "evil boss" Mr. McMahon, gives Mick Foley a severe dressing down the day after Foley (wrestling as Dude Love) failed to defeat his nemesis "Stone Cold" Steve Austin at a pay-per-view event. Near the end of the scathing promo, Foley offers a tearful "I'm sorry," but McMahon angrily rejects it, berates him some more and then tells him his services "are no longer required."
- Vince McMahon has been on the receiving end of this as well. He once was held at gunpoint in the ring by an angry "Stone Cold" Steve Austin ... only for Austin to reveal he had a "Bang!" Flag Gun that revealed a white "Austin 3:16" flag (the infamous promo where McMahon pissed his pants in the ring), before dropping him with a Stone Cold Stunner. Several years later, Trish Stratus and others set McMahon up to have his philandering ways exposed (literally) to his wife, Linda; Vince tried to backpedal and apologize, but Linda demanded a divorce.
- Bobby Heenan has had many of his apologies flatly if not angrily rejected by others, knowing he was trying to weasel his way out of the responsibility of a major attack or a miscarriage of justice.
- With Gorilla Monsoon, a classic example came on the January 23, 1989 episode of Prime Time Wrestling, a week after Heenan initiated a sneak attack of the Red Rooster by the Brooklyn Brawler, and when Monsoon got pulled into the middle of the fracas got knocked out. On the January 16 issue, Heenan smugly "apologized," but a week later when he tried to say he was sorry and that he never meant for Monsoon to be hurt, Monsoon scoffed at him and warned him that the USA Network and the WWF had put him on a short leash. A later example came with the September 11, 1989 edition, when Heenan pleaded for forgiveness, this time after he helped initiate a verbal and near-physical confrontation between his protege Rick Rude and Arch-Enemy Roddy Piper.
- Multiple times, when former proteges of his were making face turns, Heenan would berate them and slap them in the face, before the guy he tried to attack stalked him, prompting Heenan to do an Oh, Crap! and try to back off, only to get a massive beating (sometimes with Heenan trying to beg for mercy). At least one time, during his AWA days, it (kayfabe) ended with a beating so severe he wound up with a severe concussion and his being placed in a body cast.
- On one episode of WWE SmackDown, Teddy Long tries to apologize to The Undertaker for screwing the latter out of a win the previous week by banning the Hell's Gate Finishing Move. The Deadman rejects the apology by kidnapping Long and holding him captive for a week.
Theatre
- In Lizzie, the title character does a variant of this. In her first solo song, "This is Not Love", she comments that her sexually abusive father sometimes apologizes for his actions, but always ends up repeating them later. Lizzie understandably rejects these apologies, as well as his claims of loving her, albeit not to his face.
Video Games
- Absinthia: Although Freya apologizes for working with Lilith and promises to help defeat her for real, Sera and most of the people of Katti Town understandably refuse to forgive her. They allow her to use the town's shops until Lilith is defeated, but only because they know that they need her for this task.
- Assassin's Creed:
- Near the end of Assassin's Creed I, Altair apologizes to Malik for his arrogance at the beginning of the game, which got Malik's arm cut off and his brother killed. Malik rejects the apology, but not out of spite or anger. He explains that he believes Altair is no longer the same man he was before, so the "new" Altair owes him no apology in a rare, positive example.
- A more straightforward example appears in one of the sequel games, Assassin's Creed Rogue; Shay Cormac, who has betrayed the Assassins and become a Templar, has the audacity to request forgiveness from Adewale after murdering him, but Adewale tells him to go to Hell in response.
- In the BioShock Infinite DLC game Burial At Sea: Part 1, an alternate version of Booker DeWitt, who turns out to be an alternate version of Zachary Comstock who ends up killing Anna as he struggles to take her from her actual father, another Booker DeWitt, tells Elizabeth that he is sorry for what happened. Elizabeth tells him that he's not sorry, but he soon will be... just before he is impaled to death by a Big Daddy.
- BlazBlue: Chronophantasma: Ragna tries to apologize to Rachel for their earlier encounter, but Rachel doesn't accept it, saying that it's "hard to be angry at a worm". He then resorts to begging and kneeling, but that only makes Rachel pretend he's not even speaking to her.
- In BUSTAFELLOWS, Troy expressed remorse for being involved with the death of Mozu's little sister and wanted to apologize to Mozu. However, Teuta calls out Troy that because of them choosing to abandon Yuzu to die, Mozu lost their last family member and their apology would not heal the sorrow of losing a loved one.
- In Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, this happens with Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu, whose actions caused the second murder. Hiyoko Saionji refuses to forgive Fuyuhiko, partly because she's a Jerkass and partly because the victim was her best friend, Mahiru Koizumi. Hiyoko refuses to forgive Fuyuhiko even after he goes into a Pose of Supplication, but is horrified when he attempts seppuku. Sometime later, she becomes a little more tolerant of him, but then she's murdered a few days after that.
- In Devil May Cry, Trish is working for Mundus, so when she reveals it to Dante and started attacking him with Nightmare, it failed. She doesn't fight back after this and tried to apologize, only for a furious Dante to point his gun at her and give her a pained "The Reason You Suck" Speech before leaving her behind, much to her sadness.
Dante: Don't come any closer, you devil! You may look like my mother, but you're nowhere close to her. You have no soul. You have the face, but you'll never have her fire!
- Inverted in Dispatch: When Invisigal reveals her direct impact on Robert's past, he can immediately choose to forgive her, only for her to reject the forgiveness itself.
Robert: Well, I forgive you, alright? Now can we move on?
Invisigal: Dude, you can't just forgive me! You haven't even, like...fucking processed it yet! - In God of War Ragnarök:
- Late in the game, following Brok's death, Sindri blames Atreus for it, since he sought out Tyr's help, only for Tyr to turn out to be Odin in disguise, who killed Brok after Brok saw through his disguise. Sindri refuses to accept any attempts of apologizing, telling him that he is done with him and everyone else. He's willing to engage in Teeth-Clenched Teamwork with his former friends to get revenge on Odin, but after Sindri kills Odin and holds a funeral for Brok, he departs on his own.
- In the Valhalla DLC, Kratos ends up having an unexpected reunion with one of his many victims — Helios, whose severed head replaces Mimir's at various points. Kratos admits that killing the individual in question was "unjust," but said individual derisively says the apology was "not actually worth the spittle it took to mumble that out." Helios is an embodiment of Kratos' guilt and belief that he doesn't deserve redemption.
- Heavy Rain would have this if Ethan chooses to reject Madison for not telling him that she's a journalist all along.
Ethan: You lied to me. I trusted you and you used me. Now I'll never be able to trust you again.
- Lost Judgment; Matsui is the first of the bullies to apologize to Mami Koda for his actions, but she seems unwilling to forgive him when he apologizes. He appears to accept that his apology would likely get rejected, and Yagami encourages him to continue improving himself so that one day his apology may be accepted and the two can fully reconcile (which, if the end scene is anything to go by, they eventually did).
- Mewgenics: The track "Mom I Really Hate You" is about a deadbeat mother attempting to apologize to her family for some unspecified past deeds, insisting she can change and attempting to cozy her way back into the family. Her children are having none of it and reject her.
- Neofeud: In the ending, Karl's ex-wife Jewel refuses to forgive him for his misdeeds during his time as a cop, though she agrees to cooperate with him in getting Sybil's financial support so that their son, Johnny, can have a better life.
- Persona:
- In Persona 2: Innocent Sin, when Lisa and Eikichi remember what they had done to their friend Maya (they had trapped her in a burning shrine many years ago, nearly killing her), they attempt to apologize to her. Maya roughly dismisses them, saying that "I'm sorry" is nothing more than a "convenient phrase" used to transfer guilt onto others, then outright attacks them. Subverted when "Maya" turns out to be Maya's Shadow self. The real Maya helps defeat the Shadow and fully forgives Lisa and Eikichi.
Shadow Maya: A thing can be unforgivable, but oh, if they apologize... I say there’s no reason to accept that suffering.
- The protagonists in Persona 5 can inflict a form of Heel–Face Brainwashing on people, convincing them to repent and confess to their crimes. Unfortunately for the major targets, they have all passed the Moral Event Horizon, and are doomed to suffer from this. One exception, though, is Hanae Oda, mother of Shinya Oda, the Tower Confidant- after her heart is stolen, causing her to regret being a Jerkass who uses intimidation and bad behavior to get her way while advising her son to do the same, Shinya notes that he's gradually reconciling with her.
- In Persona 2: Innocent Sin, when Lisa and Eikichi remember what they had done to their friend Maya (they had trapped her in a burning shrine many years ago, nearly killing her), they attempt to apologize to her. Maya roughly dismisses them, saying that "I'm sorry" is nothing more than a "convenient phrase" used to transfer guilt onto others, then outright attacks them. Subverted when "Maya" turns out to be Maya's Shadow self. The real Maya helps defeat the Shadow and fully forgives Lisa and Eikichi.
- Saints Row 2: At Aisha's funeral, Johnny lays a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown onto Shogo Akuji, the reason the funeral is even happening in the first place. When they try to apologize, Gat punches them through a tombstone. Nothing says "Apology not accepted" like a concussion. And then being buried alive. Then again, the responsible party only apologized when things started going south for them, since they only came to the funeral to trash it and kill everyone there.
- The Sims 2 has a bug that goes like this: Sim A wrongs Sim B in some fashion, causing them to become enemies; Sim A attempts to apologize; Sim B appears to accept the apology, but then attacks Sim A.
- In Tomodachi Life, when a Mii apologizes to a Mii that they had a fight with, there is a chance this will happen. When it does, the apologizing Mii falls into Sadness state, preventing them from doing anything or having their Happiness level increase. If the two Miis were best friends, sweethearts, or married, that's gone. Though with luck, the apology-rejecting Mii may come around and ask to be friends again.
Apologizing Mii: Life is so unexpectedly tough right now. We didn't patch things up. AT ALL.
- In Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, after the player character's well-intentioned actions lead to skate park Green Pipes Point being placed in public auction, he tries to apologize, but Iggy, who's been trying to own the place for years, isn't having it.
- Towards the end of a pacifist run in Undertale, Asgore apologizes to Toriel for causing the whole mess that kickstarted the plot and wants to make amends for what he had done. She rejects his apology and refuses to get back together with him, not even as a friend. However, the ending implies the two of them might be working things out.
- In The Walking Dead: Season Two, Clementine can choose to forgive or chastise Nick for mistaking her for a walker.
Web Animation
- Helluva Boss: All Stolas's apologies and explanations to his daughter Octavia for inadvertently breaking his promises that he would never leave or choose Blitzø over her are completely rejected, and instead she makes it clear that she's done with him and no longer trusts anything he says.
- GoAnimate:
- No matter how much they beg, the troublemakers will never be forgiven for any misdemeanor or accident they cause even if they seem genuinely remorseful over their actions. Justified when they caused mass hysteria or property damage or the trouble was caused out of genuine malice. Somewhat less so when the trouble they caused was an accident or was something as simple as breaking a lamp. Cases of the latter often result in the parent/friend characters coming off as needlessly callous and/or unreasonable.
- In Cornelius McDonald/Caroline Wofford's "Weirdo At The Restaurant👁 Image
", Micheal Powell tries to apologize to his wife Becky after he misbehaves in a Chinese restaurant, but she rejects his apology. In the sequel video (made by the same author), "Becky Divorces Her Husband👁 Image
", Micheal pleads for his family to not to kick him out and take him to court to divorce him, and apologizes and promises to change into a grown man, but Becky rejects his plea and apology again.
- Inanimate Insanity: Taco finally works up the courage to apologize directly to Pickle for using him when he considered her a friend, after sending him multiple apology letters. He makes it clear that he does not accept the apology, having burnt every letter she sent.
Webcomics
- Dracula: Ruler of the Night: Minerva Westenra does this to the hunters, specifically Van Helsing when Helsing apologizes for her being turned into a vampire and offers her "peace" (i.e staking). She shoots back that not only did he fail to protect Lucy from Dracula, but likewise kept what was really going on from her when she was under the impression Lucy's sickness was something standard. Minerva only found out otherwise after she was kidnapped by Dracula's brides, met Dracula himself, was bitten by her now vampirized daughter, and became Dracula's most recent bride, and willingly joins Dracula's fight against the hunters stating that while Dracula may be a bloodsucking monster, at least he's honest in his intentions.
Minerva: You assume that this is the corruption speaking for me. I assure it is not, doctor. However good your intention was, the fact that you failed to follow through after not even giving me the courtesy of the true dilemma stings more than becoming one of these creatures. Even if he is a monster, Lord Dracul is at least true to his words. So keep your so-called "peace" (eyes glow as she levitates) but for my daughter, I will obey his wishes... and you all must die.
- In El Goonish Shive, Melissa attempted to apologize to Justin for outing him multiple👁 Image
times👁 Image
. - In General Protection Fault, after Sam tries to rape his fiancée Ki in a fit of rage, he goes up to the next day to try to apologize. Ki notes that while he seems sincere, she recognizes that he's crossed a line, and immediately breaks off the engagement with him.
- Heartstopper: This example provides the trope image. Harry suddenly arrives to a party Charlie and Nick are attending to apologize to the former for bullying him back at the cinema, with it being abundantly clear that he is only doing this to get into the party. Charlie understandably doesn't accept it, telling him that one apology doesn't make up for all of the torment Harry put him through the past year before shutting the door on him.
- In Schlock Mercenary, Kevyn rather rudely insults Elf's intelligence on the basis that she dropped out of high school (even though he dropped out himself because he found it boring). After she demonstrates that she's smarter than Kevyn gave her credit for and he realizes that he owes her an apology, Kevyn goes with reverend Theo for advice👁 Image
. He tells Kevyn in no uncertain terms that Elf will probably reject the apology (though she accepts it once Kevyn apologizes sincerely).Kevyn: Reverend, what's the best way to apologize to someone?
Reverend Theo: Look them in the eye and tell them that you're sorry. The exact wording will vary depending upon how you've wronged them, and whether they already know they've been wronged by you.
Kevyn: I need to apologize to Elf for making her feel stupid.
Reverend Theo: Shout the apology at a dead run, and retreat under covering fire provided by troops loyal only to you.
Kevyn: "Exact wording will vary." Got it. - In Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic, warring sister goddesses Ranna and Ch'Thier are told by their aunt that they weren't the goddesses of Good and Evil but of Chaos and Order, respectively. They were warped into their current Black-and-White Morality roles by their followers. Ch'Thier offers her hand in forgiveness and reconciliation to Ranna, vowing that they can start again in the roles they were meant to have. Ranna's response is to turn into a giant dragon and swallow Ch'Thier whole.👁 Image
It had been established that this isn't the first time they've had to be reminded of who they really are. From the reactions of the other immortals present👁 Image
, this also isn't the first time Ranna said "Screw That." - Zebra Girl: Sandra tries to apologize to Crystal for her actions, but Crystal, who had her faith in Sandra shattered only a few hours before, is not willing to listen.
Western Animation
- One episode of American Dad! has Stan taking his family to his half-brother Rusty's place for Thanksgiving, believing it'll make his family thankful for what they have, only to discover his brother's fabulously wealthy. Becoming jealous, Stan and his family attempt to take Rusty's place, only for them to be forcibly sent off with Rusty disowning Stan and threatening to kill him if he ever sets foot on his land again. The helicopter they're in then crashes and they're stranded in the desert. After going through hell and realizing that family is more important than material possessions, Stan attempts to make amends with Rusty, who found them in the desert, only for his half-brother to attempt to carry out his threat of killing Stan for still being on his land (he owned a lot apparently).
- In Avatar: The Last Airbender, Katara meets the man who murdered her mother and sees what a sad, pathetic wretch he's become since then, to the point that he's even begging her to kill his own mother in exchange. She would have none of it and gives him "The Reason You Suck" Speech, letting him live with the fact that she will never forgive him for what he did to her and her family and that he's already living out a Fate Worse than Death.
- Batman Beyond: In the end of "The Last Resort", when Dr. Wheeler and his mooks are arrested by the police and the teens are freed from his clinic, the teens' parents show up to take them home, and Chelsea simply walks past her father without acknowledging him. Later episodes suggest that she never forgives him for sending her to the clinic.
- In BoJack Horseman, BoJack tries to settle things with his former friend Herb (who he was forced to sell out in order to keep his job as an actor) before the latter dies of cancer. At the end of the episode, Herb makes it clear that he will never forgive BoJack, not so much for getting him fired, (Herb managed to do all right afterwards) but because BoJack was never there when Herb needed him most. As a result, Herb refuses to give BoJack the satisfaction of burying the hatchet before he dies.
BoJack: Hey, I wanted to talk to you about... you know. I feel bad about what happened.
Herb: So, you're apologizing.
BoJack: Yes. I'm sorry.
Herb: (completely calm) Okay. I don't forgive you.
BoJack: (clearly surprised) Herb, I said I'm sorry.
Herb: (as calmly as before) Yeah. And I do not forgive you.
BoJack: Uhhh, not sure you get what's happening here? This could be the last time that—
Herb: (getting angry) No. I'm not gonna give you closure. You don't get that. You have to live with the shitty thing you did for the rest of your life. You have to know that it's never, ever going to be okay!
BoJack: I really think that we'd both feel better if we...
Herb: I'm dying! I'm not gonna feel better! And I'm not gonna be your prop so you can feel better.
BoJack: You have to believe me, I did everything I could!
Herb: Yeah? Then why didn't you call me? Huh? Twenty years, you didn't call me.
BoJack: Look, I-I-I wanted to, but I didn't think—
Herb: You know what it was like for me? I had nobody, everybody left. I knew all those showbiz phonies would turn on me, sure, but you?
BoJack: It's not my fault you got fired!
Herb: I don't care about the job! I did fine, I had a good life, but what I needed then was... a friend. And you abandoned me. And I will never forgive you for that. Now get the fuck out of my house! - An episode of The Boondocks has the family going back to their old hometown of Chicago for a funeral. Huey sees his old best friend Cairo, who took it badly when Huey moved. At the funeral, Cairo snaps at him and calls him a "fake nigga", causing a fight to break out. Huey later goes to his house and apologizes for the fight. He offers his hand to Cairo, who takes it... and yanks him forward, headbutting him so hard that he flies off the porch. Well, that's one way to reject an apology.
- A heart-breaking version in Carmen Sandiego (2019) as Shadow-san, who spent his youth angry at the brother who raised him for being content with being poor and joined the yakuza and a thief-ring when he stole a priceless sword from his brother's academic work, returns it. He attempts to apologize to his brother, bowing deeply. Though he also says his brother doesn't have to forgive him. He just wants to make things right. The brother silently walks away without even a word. In the end, though, the brothers are able to mend their relationship, even if it does take time.
- Danny Phantom: In a rare hero-to-villain case, Danny tries to apologize to Vlad for pranks he pulled on him after Vlad began making life miserable for him and his friends. Unfortunately, Vlad wouldn't have it, makes a big speech that Danny deserves what he's getting, and sics the Guys In White on him.
- DuckTales (2017):
- In "Timephoon!", Louie steals a time machine and pilfers treasures from past eras in order to boost his "Louie Incorporated" business and quickly become a billionaire. This destabilizes the timestream, with people from those eras manifesting in the present, with things steadily getting worse as the rest of the main cast is lost in time, leaving a horrified Louie to fix things. Afterwards, he apologizes, and almost everyone forgives him... save for his mother, Della, who rips into him for endangering everyone. Louie fires back that she did much the same thing when she stole the experimental rocket for a joyride, leaving her stranded on the moon and her family torn apart for ten years. Della holds firm and grounds him, forcibly shutting down Louie Incorporated and making him sit out of an adventure tailor-made to his interests while cutting him off from any kind of entertainment, replacing his videos with speeches about how he needs to prove he has a place in their family.
- Their positions then get flipped after Louie outwits Flintheart Glomgold, saving Scrooge's fortune. Della forgives her son, declaring that she's proud of how he put his loved ones over personal gain. However, Louie doesn't accept her forgiveness and refuses to turn over control of the money, possibly out of anger against his mother for denying him to go to Big Rock Candy Mountain.
- A most vicious Lost in Translation example appeared in an episode of Ed, Edd n Eddy. Eddy inadvertently disgraces Rolf by throwing one of his cucumber balls at a fence. When Double D forces Eddy to give Rolf a potted plant as a sign of being sorry, it turns out to be an even greater insult in Rolf's country and Rolf challenges Eddy to a duel. In the end, Eddy finally says sorry, but since he didn't have the traditional "Cupcakes of Sorriness" (which had been earlier suggested as something to give to Rolf as an apology), Rolf still gave him a Curb Stomp No-Holds-Barred Beatdown. At which point everything is cheerfully forgiven and Rolf invites the Eds to partake in the celebratory Eels of Forgiveness. Which involves pouring live eels down their pants. A beaten-down Eddy decides to just go with it this time.
- Elena of Avalor: In Season 3, when Esteban's alliance with Shuriki is revealed, he attempts to apologize to everyone, but Elena and their grandmother tell him to screw off with his apologies and excuses since his actions led to the deaths of Elena's parents and Avalor suffering under Shuriki's tyrannical regime for over four decades. In "Dreamcatcher", when Esteban desperately begs for a chance to make things right between them, Elena tells him point-blank that there's nothing he can do to fix this and he's no longer her family; this is what pushes Esteban into a full Face–Heel Turn. On the other hand, their grandfather Francisco forgives him because he believes he has changed while his other cousin Isabel isn't sure what to think of him yet. Everyone else views him with contempt. Elena's anger with Esteban is bad enough that she initially tries to Un-person him, but she comes to terms that she still loves him and that's part of why she'll never forgive him for hurting her and everyone else so badly. On the other hand, Elena's parents, after their deaths, forgave him and in the series finale, tell her that wanting revenge against him will lead to bad decisions. This, combined with Esteban Taking the Bullet for her, eventually gets Elena to forgive him.
- In the Family Guy episode "Movin' Out (Brian's Song)", Brian wants to apologize to Jillian when Stewie revealed that he was paying half of the rent of the apartment, which prompts Brian to admit that he never wanted to move in with Jillian at all. She still rejects his apology and Brian remains broken-hearted.
- Hey Arnold!: In the plot of the episode "Arnold Betrays Iggy", Arnold learns that his friend Iggy wears bunny pajamas and promises not to tell. However, Stinky and Sid find out by guessing what Arnold learned and, despite Arnold asking them not to, they tell everyone at school about it, resulting in Iggy blaming Arnold. Despite Arnold bending over backwards to make it up to him, Iggy still refuses to forgive him afterwards (he never said he would if he did) and forces him to humiliate himself in public in the same bunny pajamas as the only chance of redemption. During the public spectacle, Iggy overhears that Stinky and Sid were responsible for his secret getting out and, realizing he's punishing an innocent Arnold, tries to stop the event but is too late to save Arnold from humiliation. In the end, a guilty Iggy begs Arnold (who refuses to speak to him) for forgiveness, reversing the roles.
- Kaeloo: In "Let's Play Danger Island Survivor", Kaeloo sets up an incredibly lame game show and forces her friends to participate. When Mr. Cat makes a few changes to the show to make it more interesting and fun, Kaeloo gets mad and beats him up severely. After the No-Holds-Barred Beatdown, she apologizes. Unlike most episodes, Mr. Cat coldly refuses to accept her apology, tells her to leave, and walks away without even looking at her. Stumpy and Quack Quack back him up for good measure.
- Ninjago: Dragons Rising: After attacking and badly injuring Lloyd, Zeatrix claims she just momentarily lost control, in spite of all evidence saying otherwise. Wyldfyre immediately points out it's a terrible apology, not least because she hasn't actually said she's sorry. Zeatrix then proceeds to attack everyone right then and there, earning her a depowering.
- PJ Masks: In "Owlette's Terrible Pterodactyl Trouble," Connor scares Amaya as a joke on a school trip, and Amaya spends most of the episode giving him the cold shoulder. Though Connor apologizes, Amaya refuses to accept it because it wasn't a "very big sorry", and ends up jeopardizing their mission to retrieve a pterodactyl model Romeo stole from the museum by refusing to follow his orders as a result. It's only when Connor loses control of the pterodactyl, which he was using to look for her, to Romeo and ends up in danger that Amaya finally accepts his apology, acknowledging that all of their problems could have been avoided had she just made up with him in the first place.
- The Simpsons:
- In "Miracle on Evergreen Terrace", Bart accidentally sets the Christmas tree on fire and destroys the family's presents. After disposing of the evidence, he lies to the rest of the family about their home being burgled overnight. The family spends the Springfieldians' $15,000 in donations on a new car which they promptly lose to a frozen lake. At this stage, Bart comes clean with what really happened and begs for the family's forgiveness. Lisa immediately turns Bart's apology down and lunges to strangle him. Homer at first stops her, but then proceeds to strangle Bart himself. Maggie also rejects the apology, as she's yanking Bart's hair during the scuffle.
- Subverted in "Bart vs. Thanksgiving", in which Bart runs away from home after he's punished for causing a huge fight earlier in the day that caused Lisa's meticulously crafted centerpiece to be destroyed and ruined Thanksgiving dinner. Even though it was technically an accident, Bart stubbornly refuses to believe that he did anything wrong and insists that Lisa is to blame. He's convinced by some hobos to return home, but when he does, he has an Imagine Spot where he apologizes to Lisa only for her to reject Bart's apology and everyone to begin mocking Bart by blaming him for everything. As Bart grovels for forgiveness, everyone — even Uncle Sam who accuses Bart of causing America to lose its way — continues to chant "It's all your fault!". Thinking that's what will happen, Bart doesn't go in and tries to sneak into his room... only to end up on the roof after over-climbing. Lisa overhears him and, after some talking, Bart realizes he does indeed feel guilt for his actions and finally apologizes to Lisa to which she accepts, happy that her older brother is safe and back home.
- In a later episode where Bart throws away a prized hat Lisa got at the boardwalk For the Lulz, only for his guilt to drive him to scouring the junkyard to get it back, she tries to pull this on him after he finally returns it out of spite. But her own conscience forces her to accept his apology and they make up.
- Another subversion happens in "Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy," when Abe and Homer are fighting in the car about an aphrodisiac tonic he invented. This eventually leads Abe to snap and tell Homer that he'd be happy if he hadn't taken that tonic, and that Homer was an accident. This enrages Homer enough to abandon him in the middle of the freeway. Abe tries to make amends, but Homer ignores his attempts. The two eventually make up at the end of the episode.
- "Brawl In the Family" invokes this trope when Amber and Ginger, the two cocktail waitresses Homer and Ned drunkenly married in Las Vegas during "Viva Ned Flanders" finally tracks them down to Springfield. Marge is understandably furious (which just gets worse when Judge Constance Harm refuses to annul the marriage since bigamy is legal in Springfield) and throws Homer out of the house, but soon starts to miss him. Since Amber refuses to leave, Homer and Marge fakes having a big, public spat where Homer gets tired of apologizing since Marge refuses to forgive him, making Amber think he's choosing her. In the ensuing "celebration", she gets so drunk she marries Grandpa, which freaks her out so much when she sobers up that she flees town, taking Ginger with her (who just got sick of how sacharine and moralistic Ned really was).
- In "Marge on the Lam", the family is watching a PBS fundraiser, which includes a clip from a historical medieval drama called Edward the Penitent, showing the titular Edward kneeling in front of a man on a throne and repeatedly asks for forgiveness. Unfortunately, the man in question coldly snaps back that "I'm afraid sorry doesn't cut it with this pope!" Cue Edward giving a Awkward Collar Pull.
- South Park:
- In "Tonsil Trouble", Cartman infects Kyle with AIDS for laughing at him, leaving the latter obviously enraged. The principal finds out about this and demands Cartman give an apology (which he does half-heartedly), while Kyle should also apologize for tattling on Cartman. Cartman seems sincerely appalled that Kyle is still livid.
Cartman: I apologized, Kyle!!!
- In "Breast Cancer Show Ever", Cartman repeatedly makes tasteless jokes about breast cancer in the midst of Wendy trying to promote breast cancer awareness, leading to a furious Wendy challenging him to a fight. Afterwards, Cartman tries to quietly apologize to Wendy for his actions, but Wendy refuses to accept it unless he apologizes openly, which Cartman refuses to do in order to keep up his "brave and hardcore" act. Also, it's made clear Cartman isn't actually sorry in the slightest and is just trying to get out of the fight.
- In "Tonsil Trouble", Cartman infects Kyle with AIDS for laughing at him, leaving the latter obviously enraged. The principal finds out about this and demands Cartman give an apology (which he does half-heartedly), while Kyle should also apologize for tattling on Cartman. Cartman seems sincerely appalled that Kyle is still livid.
- Norman Osborn in The Spectacular Spider-Man has a variation of this as his catchphrase: "Don't apologize. I never do." It's not him rejecting it, but rather saying no one should have any need to apologize in the first place.
- SpongeBob SquarePants: In the episode "All That Glitters", SpongeBob accidentally breaks his spatula (which is revealed to be sentient and named "Spat") and buys a technologically advanced one, which turns out to be a Jerkass. SpongeBob visits Spat in the hospital and begs it to return, but it refuses to forgive SpongeBob for abandoning it, even after he breaks down sobbing. Subverted at the end of the episode when it finally does return, fully repaired.
- In the Static Shock episode "Jimmy", Nick apologizes to Jimmy for constantly bullying him when the latter starts holding him at gunpoint. Jimmy refuses to believe that he is sorry as it's implied that he's only trying to save his own skin.
- In Steven Universe, after Lapis Lazuli is finally freed from her fusion with Jasper, she finds herself competing with Peridot for a place to stay (their first meeting since Lapis was taken to Earth and interrogated as part of Peridot's mission). Peridot wants to share the living space and make amends with Lapis, but Lapis firmly denies all of Peridot's efforts, up to and including destroying a gift Peridot gave her right in front of her. Peridot finally agrees to leave, but returns fleeing when a Homeworld ship appears. Lapis never formally forgives Peridot for what happened, but some words from Steven and the urgency of the situation are at least enough for Lapis to save Peridot's life and let her stay, with the two eventually becoming close friends.
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012): In the season 2 premiere, after her father gets turned into a mutant bat, April gets upset with the Turtles and cuts all ties with them. In "Target: April O'Neil," Donnie approaches her and tries to make amends by giving her an apology but she refuses to accept it. However, April begins to reconsider her decision after Casey informs her of a similar incident that cost him his own friendship with a former friend of his, remarking that some things just can't be controlled, echoing Donnie's words. Finally, April officially forgives the Turtles when they save her from the Foot Clan and gave them her own apology for being harsh towards them, especially to Donnie.
- In Teen Titans (2003), Noble Bigot Val-Yor spends the entirety of the episode "Troq" belittling Starfire because of his Fantastic Racism. After she saves his life, he genuinely tries to apologize by telling her You Are a Credit to Your Race. The Titans are understandably still upset and refuse to acknowledge his progress, which only makes him dig in his heels and decide Humans Are Bastards too as they part on chilly terms.
- Teen Titans Go!:
- In The Date, Robin kidnaps Speedy and dresses up as him so he can ruin his chances with Starfire. He ends up feeling guilty and confesses to Star, whereupon instead of being flattered like he hoped, he is Punched Across the Room for his troubles, and Starfire goes out with the episode narrator instead.
- In Mr. Butt, after Blackfire gets Starfire thrown in jail, the Titans teach her to be nice and it actually works. But when Starfire breaks out of jail a hardened criminal bent on revenge, Blackfire tries to apologize and even gives her the doll she stole from their childhood to show she really has changed, Star hisses "So have I", destroys the doll, and beats her to a pulp.
- In one episode, when Robin tries to apologize to John (a magic sentient talking bathroom) for hogging him and making everyone fight, he replies, "Stuff your sorries in the sack!".
- In the Tom and Jerry cartoon "Heavenly Puss", after accidentally getting crushed by a piano and going to Heaven, Tom learns that due to his record of tormenting Jerry, he's not allowed in and his only chance is getting Jerry's signature on a 'Certificate of Forgiveness' within an hour. Unfortunately, Jerry doesn't buy Tom's pandering, to the point that he outright tears the certificate apart. After Tom begs and attempts to elaborate his predicament, a bewildered Jerry submits and signs, just too late and Tom ends up being banished to Hell. Fortunately for Tom, it's All Just a Dream.
- It happens a lot in Total Drama:
- In "Sundae Muddy Sundae", Courtney reveals a chart with all contestants of her choice, having already decided which one would be eliminated next and which one would she take to the finale: she chooses her boyfriend, Scott to take to the finale, over her bestie, Gwen, who she promises to take with her to the finale. When the chart was exposed (just blame Mal), Most contestants were disappointed in her for her attempt at betrayal, especially Gwen. During the challenge, Courtney approaches Gwen and tries to apologize to her for it, but she refuses to accept it, of course, unless Courtney agrees to vote for herself.
- Transformers: Animated: Bumblebee was an unknowing accessory to Wasp being framed for espionage. After Wasp spends 50 years in prison and turns into Waspinator, Bumblebee tries to apologize.
Waspinator: Wasp forgive Bumblebot. But Waspinator NEVER forgive!
- An episode of VeggieTales has Larry's actions accidentally leave the cast stranded on an island. Larry tries to apologize, but the others aren't willing to accept it. Then they all learn a lesson about forgiveness.
Real Life
- Reverend William Aitcheson confessed to burning a cross on a black couple's yard when he was a KKK member, and his apology was rejected by said couple. It didn't help that he waited forty years to offer his apology.
- Marty Stroud, an attorney in Louisiana, tried to apologize to Glenn Ford, a man he had helped convict who spent 30 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit when he learned Ford was dying of terminal cancer. Ford refused to forgive him, understandable since he was near death when the attempt was made and had only been free from prison for less than a year by that time.