I believe he was sincere, I don't think he meant to be malicious. I don't think Comedians should have to apologize for 99% of what they joke about, but kids should be off limits. When she's 18 he can rip at her all he wants and anyone else for that matter. However, if the people that were outraged hadn't spread it all over the internet Miley may have never heard about it in the first place, so who is really to blame? I think if Billy Ray did something like this about Jamie's daughter the reaction would be...interesting. He couldn't throw up his hands and say, "sorry I'm a comedian".