Ordered Apology

Lamilton: ...and I wanna apologize to all of you for what I did. It was very wrong and I am very sorry. I just would like to move on and lead a normal life. Y'know, get a job and a wife. And change my ways. And I hope this apology impresses you even though my grandmother made me do it and I don't really mean it.
Grandma: You mean you do mean it.
Lamilton: I mean I do mean it.
Huey: I don't think he means it.

— The Boondocks, "Smokin' with Cigarettes"

When Jack insists that Tom apologize to Harry.

This trope comes in two forms, based on where he gets the ability to insist:

1. Jack is The Leader, parent or other authority figure and insists on it to smooth over relations. (Justly or unjustly. A Beleaguered Bureaucrat or a Corrupt Corporate Executive frequently insist on it because it seems the quickest way to make a problem go away. Similarly, a parent or teacher who doesn't want to go to the trouble of figuring out who is actually at fault might order an unwarranted apology as well.) Another variation is a Mean Boss forcing an underling to take the blame for the boss's mistakes.
2. Tom is deeply apologetic to Jack, even though Harry was far more gravely wronged by the matter. Usually Jack refuses to accept his apology until he does it. This is often Jill insisting that Tom apologize to Jack when they are in a Love Triangle.

In both cases, expect a deeply grudging apology that will manage to keep things going for at least a little while — with Teeth-Clenched Teamwork. Jack may put his foot down on a Backhanded Apology. Then again, he may not. The Unapologetic character will usually defy this trope, showing that s/he isn't sorry for his/her actions. Though rare, a Rejected Apology can come from this. You may be forced into this if you're Made Out to Be a Jerkass.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Toward the end of Another, Akazawa, the girl in charge of taking "countermeasures" against the curse, does this to Misaki, the student everyone was supposed to ignore in order to keep the curse at bay. Akazawa says that because Misaki failed to keep adequate distance from Sakakibara, the "charm" against the curse failed, resulting in people dying, and Akazawa is furious that Misaki seemingly shows no remorse. In reality, the deaths actually started in April, before Sakakibara arrived, so Misaki isn't to blame at all. Misaki's friends- Sakakibara, Mochizuki and Teshigawara- immediately stand up and protest Akazawa scapegoating Misaki. Misaki notes that an apology won't do much good at this point, but complies.
• In Bleach, Ichigo's sisters and friends demand that he apologize to their cousin/friend Tsukishima after he punches him. The messed up thing? Tsukishima's the villain of the arc. They only think he's their friend after he messed with their memories.
• In The Creation Alchemist Enjoys Freedom, the first antagonist, former Duke Bragas Regus, is ordered to write an apology letter to Thor for the crime of at least 6 years of completely unjustified abuse, and banishing him to demon king territory, in exchange for a promise of amnesty if the letter works, both to sooth Thor's grudge against the Dolgaria Empire as a whole and so that Thor routinely sends letters home from which Minister Zagran can gleam military intelligence. Bragas completely screws the pooch once again by putting absolutely no sincerity in the letter and making Zagran's intent to make Thor an imperial mole glaringly obvious. In fact, Thor never actually read the letter, not trusing anything from the Regus house, but had the letter read, aloud, by Mabel, the demon king's handmaiden, right in front of the demon king's army, and soundly rejects the apology, making his intent to defect official. Things do not go well for Bragas after that.
• In K, HOMRA's Team Mom Kusanagi makes Misaki and Rikio apologize to his bar - specially imported from a pub in England, it cost him a fortune, the scent of ale and cigarettes and the chatter of drunken patrons forever soaked into this fine piece of history - which the boys crashed into and dented when they charged in fighting.
• My Bride is a Mermaid: In one episode, Gōzaburō tries to have Nagasumi killed at the Obon festival by having Shark Fujishiro eat him. When Sun connects the dots, she demands that Gōzaburō apologize for Nagasumi, outright stating that she "can't respect a father who won't even act like a man." Gōzaburō refuses, and swears that Nagasumi will be "shark shit" next time before storming off.
• Done indirectly in One Piece: In the aftermath of the Enies Lobby arc, Luffy learns that Usopp, who had previously left the crew following an argument, wants to come back. Before he can go bring him back, Zoro stops him, stating that they should only accept Usopp back into the crew if he apologizes for his insubordination towards Luffy. His reasoning is that a captain who Easily Forgives disobedience and leaving the crew on a whim as Usopp did is unworthy of respect and, should that continue, he would leave the crew next. Though harsh, the others acknowledge Zoro's point and make no attempt to reconcile with Usopp. It's not until the crew has very nearly left Water Seven without him that Usopp finally swallows his pride and apologizes. Immediately after he does, Luffy gets Usopp aboard their new ship and they sail off together.
• Pokémon: The Original Series: In one of the later Orange Island episodes, Ash asks the Character of the Day a rather Innocently Insensitive question. Misty angrily snaps at him to apologize, but the Character of the Day jovially tells her that there's no need to apologize.
• In Spy X Family, this becomes a plot point when Anya starts attending Eden College. Agent Twilight, who is posing as family man, Loid Forger is tasked with infiltrating the inner circle of the reclusive Party Leader Donovan Desmond, who only socializes with others during Eden College's get-together of parents of Imperial Scholars, of which his oldest son is one. To do so he adopts Anya in the hopes she would become an Imperial Scholar, but Anya's academic affinity forces him to switch the plan to her befriending Damian, Donovan's youngest son as a way into the inner circle, but that plan goes sideways when Damian bullies her on orientation day and she punches him in response, making him cry. Hoping that an apology would smooth things over, and keep the mission on track, Twilight/Loid infiltrates the school and keeps, secretly, pestering her to apologize Damian. When she finally delivers a tearful apology for hitting him, Twilight is relived that the crisis was averted, but instead, he angrily tells her he won't forgive a commoner attacking him and runs away screaming (because he's embarrassed of his budding crush for her).

Comic Books

• Be Prepared: After Vera's disastrous ninth birthday party (where all her guests called their parents to be picked up in the middle of the sleepover without saying goodbye) Sarah—the girl whose party she attended at the start—is made by her mother to come apologize for how she acted. Vera is sure her mother made her do it.
• In The Powerpuff Girls story "Monkey Business", Mojo Jojo gives up his life of crime and opens a restaurant that everyone loves. The girls aren't totally sold as they constantly disrupt things with unfounded claims of harm against the citizens. Mojo demands a printed apology each time to which the girls resignedly agree. When the girls actually taste Mojo's wares and find it delicious:
  Mojo: (angrily) And do you taste any poison?? Are you dying?? Have I finally managed to bring down the Powerpuff Girls??
  Girls: (ashamed) No.
  Mojo: I expect a full apology in the paper tomorrow morning!

Fan Works

• Advice and Trust: Gendo fired Shinji and Asuka for so-called insubordination, and alleged the dummy plug automatic system would suffice to control their war mechas. However, the drones failed and Shinji and Asuka came along to save everybody. SEELE ordered Gendo reinstating them in service and apologizing. And Gendo did so... using the most token, most backhanded, most insincere apology in existence.
• An Alternate Keitaro Urashima: Naru, trying to avoid having to own up to how she'd attacked Keitaro over a misunderstanding, wagers on Motoko winning their duel. After Keitaro wins, Naru is then forced to apologize as per the agreement. Naturally, she blames Motoko for this, showing absolutely No Sympathy for the Humiliation Conga that follows for her 'friend'.
• Bitter Tears: An Anon-A-Miss Fic: This is part of the CMC's punishment: the three of them have to publicly confess that they were Anon-A-Miss at a school assembly, apologizing for their actions. They also have to prove their connection to the website by accessing it and taking it down in front of everyone, in order to clear Sunset's name once and for all.
• The CONSEQUENCES series depicts Lila as The Unapologetic; the only times she ever does so is when she's specifically ordered to do so. And even then, it's clear that she really doesn't want to.
  • TEACHERS: EYES OF THE OWL has the principal and her mother force her to apologize to Marinette in front of the whole school. Lila declares that she's sorry, alright... sorry that she didn't keep her promise to completely ruin her life, and that Marinette isn't dead, before spitefully spitting in her face. To her frustration, Marinette isn't even fazed.
• Confessions: Anne makes Sprig apologize to Sasha for making a cruel remark about how the fight at Toad Tower went, as well as laughing at her when she got attacked by a weevil. In turn, Sasha is forced to apologize for how she brought up Toad Tower in the first place, and for calling Sprig ugly.
• In Entering The Love Hina World, Motoko's attempt to apologize for how she treated Keitaro and Anthony is initially assumed to be one of these.
• First Try Series: After Barako Haruno tries to get Danzo Convicted by Public Opinion, he turns her efforts completely against her simply by spreading the truth around, which costs her husband Kita his job. Kita then forces Barako to formally apologize to Danzo.
• For His Own Sake: After Naru assaults a husband she overheard teasing his wife, Mitsune orders her to apologize to the couple. Naru refuses, declaring they have no authority to force her to do so; Shakiko, however, does, and makes the same command.
  • Later, Naru confronts Chizuka over reporting the incident to Toudai's school board, protesting that she's "ruining her life" despite said apology. Chizuka retorts that she only apologized because she was forced to, and continued blaming her and her husband afterwards, proving that she isn't the least bit sorry for what she did and only cares about how the consequences affect her personally. This gives Chizuka all the more reason to see her expelled.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion: Genocide: In chapter 9, Misato orders Asuka to apologize to Keiko for hurting her during a combat simulation. Asuka doesn't want to apologize, though, because she hadn't outright tried to hurt her teammate and sees Keiko is as nothing but an untrained and clumsy child who shouldn't be a pilot anyway. So she refuses to apologize and instead attempts to scare her out of continuing as a pilot by telling her about all the horrible things that can happen on the battlefield against Angels, believing it to be for Keiko's own good.
• Owl's Hell That Ends Well: Loona declares that if Stella ever wants to hold any kind of conversation with her, she needs to apologize for how poorly she's treated her over the years first. Stella isn't keen to do so, but eventually swallows her pride and apologizes... rather flatly.
• RainbowDoubleDash's Lunaverse: After some unpleasantness between them, Viceroy Night Light is ordered to apologise to Trixie by Princess Luna. He delivers a not-remotely-heartfelt apology, and Trixie (whose career Night Light had threatened to ruin out of parental spite) tells him to get lost. Fortunately for both sides, Ditzy intervenes, calls them out on their behaviour and makes them really apologize.
• Scarlet Lady: Chloé typically never shows any remorse for her actions, and is used to getting away with this due to her father being the Mayor and her teacher refusing to discipline her. Which makes it all the more shocking for her when her father actually orders her to apologize to Marinette for falsely accusing her of theft in "Rogercop". It's the first time that Mayor André acknowledges how damaging his daughter's bratty behavior is — most likely because he was traumatized by how she'd seemingly fallen to her death.
• The Wedding Crashers: Leah Clearwater, after deciding to ruin Jacob's wedding because she was bullied throughout it, Jacob beats her up and forces her to apologize to everyone with his Alpha Order. Leah refuses because she was kicked from his pack.

Films — Live-Action

• Assassination Games have Flint avenging his wife by subduing Polo, the same villain who raped Flint's wife and puts her in a coma, and demanding Polo to apologize to her. Polo does, but Flint have other ideas.
  Flint: She can't hear you. [kills Polo]
• In Avatar: The Way of Water, after Lo'ak starts a fight with some bullies, Lo'ak's father Sully orders him to apologize over the brawl. Though, not before dropping this gem:
  Sully: But you win, right?
• In Face/Off, Sean Archer's daughter is parked in a car with her boyfriend. He starts getting a little rough, and Sean (actually his enemy Castor Troy wearing his face) intervenes. After beating him up, he makes him apologize.
  Castor: Say you're sorry.
  Guy: I'm sorry!
  Castor: Say it again.
  Guy: I'm sorry!
  Castor: Mean it.
  Guy: I'm so sorry!
• Wanda (the woman, not the fish) in A Fish Called Wanda demands that Otto apologize to Archie for assaulting him. This is while they're technically on the same side. He refuses to listen. Well, to be precise Otto does go to apologize — but Archie is too busy trying to escape from this nutter he eventually loses patience, draws a gun and forces Archie to listen to his "apology".
• The Mission: Rodrigo is ordered to deliver an apology to Governor Cabeza by his Jesuit brothers after publicly calling him out on his lies. He does so, but it's executed with such over-the-top humility that it's clear Rodrigo is just taking the piss. Cabeza grudgingly accepts the "apology".
• Popeye uses this trope as an extended build-up to Popeye's first brawl. A bunch of waterfront toughs overhear his Infodump to Wimpy and begin mocking him. When he can no longer ignore it, Popeye demands an "apologiky". The thugs oblige by coercing everyone else in the place to apologize one by one — everyone who didn't see a fight was brewing and flee, that is.
• Just after the climax of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, General Korrd makes Captain Klaa apologize to Kirk for attacking the Enterprise.
  Korrd: Kirk, my junior officer has something he wants to say to you. [turns to Klaa] yIjatlh! ["Speak!"]
  Klaa: [sheepishly] I... apologize.
  [Kirk looks absolutely stunned]
  Korrd: maj. 'ej...? ["Good. And...?"]
  Klaa: [still sheepish] The attack upon your vessel was not authorized by my government.

Jokes

• Two siblings, Tom and Jane, are arguing at the dinner table.
  Tom: Oh, you're so stupid!
  Dad: That's enough! Tom, tell Jane you're sorry.
  Tom: Okay. Jane, I'm sorry you're stupid.

Literature

• American Girls Collection: In Meet Molly, Molly's brother Ricky sprays her and her friends Susan and Linda with a hose on Halloween, ruining their costumes and treats. When their mother finds out, she orders Ricky to apologize and give them his bag of treats. After she leaves the room, he mutters "sorry" before giving them his treat bag and running out of the room. The girls are not satisfied by this because they feel it was a very light punishment, so they decide to get revenge by embarrassing Ricky in front of his crush Dolores.
• In L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables, town busybody Mrs. Lynde comments on Anne's red hair, which leads to Anne flinging all sorts of insults in her face. Marilla is horrified and orders her to apologize. Anne then presents Mrs. Lynde with one of the most melodramatic apologies ever thought up.
• In Bearhead, after Bearhead messes up Madame Hexaba's order to clear away the table, she orders him to apologize, which he does. She isn't satisfied and demands he kiss her feet, which goes poorly.
• In L. M. Montgomery's The Blue Castle's Back Story Valancy was ordered to apologize once to her cousin for something she didn't do. When Valancy is rude to her during the course of the book, her mother tries again, and Valancy says that that apology would have to do.
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul: After Rodrick tells the family about him and his bandmates toilet-papering a neighbor's house, Susan orders Frank to pull the car to the side of the road, and then demands that Rodrick get on the phone to apologize to the neighbor. Greg notes in his diary that it was awkward for everyone in the car to hear.
• Discworld: In Jingo, Carrot uses his sheer force of personality to make a Morporkian soldier and a Klatchian bandit apologise for calling the other a greasy dishcloth-head and a brother of a pig. Vimes and Ahmed then discuss how improbable the scene would otherwise be because the men are tough and nasty normally.
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire:
  • When Karkaroff is furious that his Triwizard Champion has been attacked, he accuses Dumbledore of having orchestrated it and spits at his feet. Hagrid hauls him off the ground, pins him one-handed against a tree and snarls at him to apologize.
  • Another in the final chapters of the same book is Dumbledore forcing Sirius and Snape to shake their hands and work together.
• In Ramona the Brave, after Ramona destroys Susan's paper-bag owl at school (because it was copied from her own), teacher Mrs. Griggs brings her to the front of the room and makes her apologize in front of the whole class. Ramona does it because she doesn't have a choice, but whispers to Susan immediately afterwards, "...even if you are a copycat who—stinks!"
• In The Vor Game, while regaining control of the Dendarii Free Mercenaries, Miles Vorkosigan meets a demand that Tung apologize to another officer. Miles insists on it, and then insists on doing it for real after a Backhanded Apology.
• Mentioned but defied in Wraith Squadron: Wedge doesn't intend to order Tyria to apologize to Grinder for pummeling him in a fit of rage, because he (Wedge) feels that it would be insincere and pointless. What he wants to know is if she will apologize to him on her own.

Live-Action TV

• In the Babylon 5 episode "The Fall of Night", Sheridan is ordered for political reasons to apologize to the Centauri for defending the station against a Centauri attack. In the privacy of his quarters, he gives a truly epic Backhanded Apology in a Mirror Monologue, which unfortunately is not what he can afford to say. When he's on his way to give the real apology, however, circumstances intervene with an Assassination Attempt.
• The Big Bang Theory:
  • Leonard and Penny have an argument, and Sheldon tries to get each of them to apologize to the other because their fight is disrupting his life. He doesn't really care who apologizes to whom, he just wants the fight to stop.
  • In another episode Penny tells Sheldon to apologize to Leonard for something, but he feels he has nothing to apologize for because he's right. She suggests that he apologize "sarcastically"; since he doesn't do sarcasm well it comes off like a regular apology.
  • When Penny finally chews Howard out for his lechery, he has an emotional breakdown and locks himself in his room. The A Plot of that episode focuses on the rest of the guys needing to amp up their robot, for which they need Howard, the engineer. Leonard forces Penny to apologize to Howard, though he comes around too late to fix the robot.
• The Boys (2019)
  • An Invoked Trope in the first episode when Billy Butcher tells Hughie Campbell to insist that A-Train apologize in person before he signs the compensation deal for A-Train accidentally killing Hughie's girlfriend, because it will give them a chance to plant a bug in the Seven's headquarters. The Vought International lawyer refuses at first, but Butcher knows they'll force A-Train to play along. A-Train later gave him a genuine apology in Season 3, but Hughie (in part due to the Psycho Serum running through him) decks him in response.
  • After Starlight publicly reveals she was coerced by Deep into having sex with him, Deep makes a televised apology that's the usual Vought whitewash; he claims that he mistakenly assumed their sex with consensual, rather than Deep threatening to accuse Starlight of attacking him if she didn't have sex with him. However, it marks the end of Deep's career as Vought has him Reassigned to Antarctica. In Seasons 2 and 3, Deep had a Heel Realization and genuinely tries to apologize to her but due to the nature of his crime he's left Reformed, but Rejected.
  • In Season 3, A-Train forces Blue Hawk to apologize to a black community for his racist actions, due to A-Train having new clout within the Seven that lets him force the issue. Unlike the former two examples, this backfires horrifically — Blue Hawk not only refuses to put in the effort to even attempt to sound remorseful, but doubles down on his racism, and ends up severely injuring/outright killing several of the community, including permamently crippling A-Train's brother Nathan. Worse still, unlike the former examples, Blue Hawk gets away with everything due to blaming the incident on Antifa. This leads A-Train to decide to take matters into his own hands.
• Farscape. In "Beware of Dog", Aeryn Sun threatens to kill the Vorc and on John Crichton's insistence makes an extremely insincere apology. She makes a genuine apology as the Vorc is dying, after it's revealed to have been trying to help them the entire time.
• One memorable moment from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air came from this. After Will confesses to Uncle Phill that the pills Carlton took were his, Uncle Phil forces Will to come clean and apologize to the family. Will is only reluctant to do so because he’s on the verge of tears. However he does so anyway in one heart tugging scene.
• In the Halloween Episode of Grimm Monroe catches a group of bullies stealing a little girl's candy. He tells their leader to give it back and the leader responds with "Make me." Monroe then responds by grabbing the kid by the ear and doesn't let go until he gives the candy back and apologizes.
• Played for Laughs in the pilot episode of Haven after Duke is dragged in on suspicion of murder simply because he's the lead detective's Designated Villain due to being childhood enemies. While the Haven PD have closed their investigation, FBI Agent Audrey Parker's is ongoing, so she asks Duke for his cooperation. He says he will...if Nathan will apologize. Audrey forces Nathan to give one, even though he looks like he'd rather chew glass.
• In House, Cuddy nagged House incessantly to apologize to a patient. (She'd actually seen Foreman over a cancer scare and he'd been wearing House's nametag at the time.) House finally "accidentally" stepped on the patient's foot with his cane and acted embarrassed and apologetic about that. Cuddy didn't see the "step on the patient's foot" part and assumed House's "I'm so sorry" was the apology she ordered.
• In the infamous iCarly episode "iFred", after a whole episode of being ostracized and beaten up because of his opinion over not thinking Fred was funny, Freddie is dragged over to Fred's house and ordered to apologize by Carly and Sam. Even afterwards, when Fred reveals that he only pretended to take offense as a publicity stunt, Freddie is still tormented, with Sam shoving him out of Fred's treehouse.
• Judge John Deed: The judge frequently makes people apologise for contempt of court, and takes pleasure in jailing those who refuse to do so, including barristers and court staff. In particular, he does this to one of his enemies Laurence James, and makes him apologise for stealing papers, while standing in the dock in the courtroom.
  Judge John Deed: [fully robed] What have you got to say for yourself?
  Mr James: We are very sorry for our contempt.
  Judge John Deed: It's not we who are in contempt, it's you. However, I'll accept your apology.
  Mr James: We do require the papers.
  Judge John Deed: I'm not convinced you're sincere in your apology. Perhaps a night in the local remand prison would make you more contrite.
  Mr James: [hastily] My Lord, we are utterly, totally, absolutely, irrefutably sincere in our apology. Any offence we caused is wholly wrong, and we are sorry for it.
  Judge John Deed: If that's your last word, you can go. Mrs Cooper has been kind enough to photocopy the papers.
• Peaky Blinders:
  • Tommy openly accuses sadistic Father Hughes of passing information to Soviet spies, and in retaliation, Hughes unleashes a savage beat-down on Tommy and threatens his family. Tommy, having no choice but to temporarily toe the line, is forced to give a grovelling public apology wherein Hughes literally makes him recite the Catholic Act of Contrition with Hughes' own name in place of God's.
  • Although it wasn't explicitly stated, Alfie Solomons' apology to Arthur for getting him wrongfully imprisoned was almost definitely insisted upon by Tommy as one of the conditions for choosing to trust him again. The way Alfie looked at Tommy afterwards for approval heavily implied it.
• Power Rangers: In Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, when Goldar finally learns that Rita used a love potion to make Lord Zedd marry her, he orders Finster to make an antidote. By the time Goldar uses the antidote on Zedd and denounces Rita to him, Zedd had already developed real feelings for Rita and doesn't believe Goldar, who is then ordered by Zedd to apologize. Goldar begrudgingly does as ordered and the issue is never brought up again.
• This is the focus of Sports Night's "The Apology". Dan gives a magazine interview in which he says marijuana should be legalized—on the grounds that drugs should be a health care rather than a criminal issue, but this is not how it comes off—and is ordered to apologize on air. The apology he ends up giving is to his brother, who's been dead for eleven years after getting into a car accident while high, due, Dan believes, to his own bad influence.
• In the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Parallax", B'Elanna Torres breaks the nose of Lieutenant Carey, exasperating the relations between the Starfeet crew and the newly-joined renegade Maquis. Chakotay orders her to not only apologise, but to sit down and have a drink with the man and put some serious effort into bonding with him. We don't know if she does so, but at the end of the episode after she's appointed Chief Engineer over Carey, they both make the effort to mend some bridges.
• The West Wing:
  • Played with in the pilot episode; after making a rude comment to a religious right figurehead about the lack of intelligence of her and her followers on national television, Josh is basically ordered to apologise to her by everyone he comes into contact with that day, and reluctantly agrees to do so despite feeling he was right and justified. After his apology, however, the woman's arrogance starts rubbing Toby up the wrong way until she makes a rather snide comment he interprets to be anti-semitic, at which point he starts getting into it with her, and the meeting quickly breaks down until the President basically shows up rather awesomely, reveals that his granddaughter has been targeted by pro-life extremists, and then tells the religious right representatives in no uncertain terms that there'll be no apology from the White House and, until they denounce the extremists within their ranks, they can pretty much get stuffed.
  • In the final season, Josh (who is heading up the Santos for President campaign) is pushed into a room where Donna (who worked for one of Santos' opponents in the primaries) is waiting.
    Lou: I don't know what the problem is between you two, but she's great on television and I don't care if she worked for Francisco Franco in the primary. Right now it's all hands on deck, so work it out.
• Ziwe has a Running Gag in which the titular host tricks her guest into saying something insensitive, then insists that they face their camera and "apologize publicly" to whatever community they may have offended.

Manhua

• An Old Master Q strip sees the titular character's chubby bestie, Big Potato, getting picked on by another guy three times his size. Master Q intervenes and surprsingly enough, managed to subdue the larger guy by ear-twisting, ordering the guy to apologize, which the latter did. When Big Potato asks Master Q afterwards though...
  Master Q: He needs to listen to me. I'm his boss!

Radio

• John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme: In season 5, Patsy Straightwoman has to deal with the Shadow Minister for Saying Stupid Things and Failing to Apologise for Them, who - as his job title suggests - refuses to properly apologise for saying something stupid. She gradually forces him to apologise and mean it.

Tabletop Games

• Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: In the Bretonnian legal system, a judge determines guilt or innocence, after which a jury sentences the guilty party. Sentences of "Say sorry right now" aren't unheard of, usually in cases where the jury disagrees with the guilty verdict.

Theatre

• The first commandment of Hamilton's "Ten Duel Commandments" is to "demand satisfaction", basically ordering an apology from the other party for some sleight. "If they apologize, no need for further action", but in the honor-obsessed upper class of the late 18th century this was much harder than it would seem today, thus starting the wheels towards a duel.

Video Games

• Bug Fables: When Vi finally returns to the Bee Kingdom, revealing that she was the one who was rude to other bees in the Hive (especially to her own sister) instead of the other way around as her friends (and the player) were led to believe, Leif and Kabbu insist that she must make amends with her sister. Initially, Vi refuses to do so, believing that she doesn't owe her sister any apologies, 'cause she was mean to her too, but later, she agrees to apologize when Leif and Kabbu point out that one day she may never be able to.
• The culprit of Chapter 3 in Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony combines this trope with Madness Mantra, ordering Shuichi to "apologize, apologize, apologize!" as they come unglued on the stand.
• Eastern Exorcist: At the start of Xiahou-xue's campaign, the Xiahou siblings were caught stealing from the mighty Python King, who's ready to kill them both before their adoptive uncle, the hulijing lord, intervenes. Their uncle managed to negotiate for the Python King to turn the other cheek, besides ordering the siblings to apologize to the Python for their intrusion.
• Idol Manager: A possible reaction to some events is to order the idol involved to apologize. This response is to be used carefully, as apologizing for something too minor will get the idol viewed as an Extreme Doormat, while deciding that no apology is needed for something major will get the idol percieved as The Unapologetic. With (in-game) social media being prone to Felony Misdemeanor, good luck figuring out the right response to each event.
• Jedi Academy: Downplayed and then downplayed and inverted near the beginning. Kyle Katarn makes both Jaden Korr and Rosh Penin go through a training course. Rosh figures he can "win" by slowing Jaden down by setting a lightsaber training droid to attack him. Afterwards Kyle admonishes him and doesn't quite order an apology but shames Rosh into giving one. Jaden is disinclined to accept the apology, but Kyle persuades him/her (again, not quite orders) to do so anyway, making it an inversion as well.
• Implied in The Last of Us Part II, when bartender Seth apologizes to Ellie for the homophobic slur he threw her way the night before. He only does so upon being prodded by the town's Iron Lady of a mayor, it doesn't sound particularly sincere, and the still-pissed off Ellie predictably refuses to accept it.
• Mass Effect 3: After Grunt causes a drunken ruckus on the Presidium and gets detained by C-Sec, Shepard is summoned to sort things out and has the option of invoking one of these.

  Shepard: Grunt, you apologize to the nice man for setting his car on fire.
  Grunt: Fine. I'm sorry for setting your car on fire...
  (Shepard gives Grunt a look, as if telling him "Go on...")
  Grunt: ... and I won't do it again.

• In Steins;Gate 0, after finding out that Daru and Maho rebuilt the time-leap machine, Okabe goes into an angry outburst (though they were planning on telling him about it) at both of them. He's especially harsher towards Maho, going so far to tell her that she'll become a murderer if she uses the machine, which pisses Daru enough to punch Okabe in the face and demand that he apologize to Maho.

Web Comics

• Bear Nuts #469: Sara is ordered by Midge and Ella to apologize to Gay for nearly getting them both killed by the polar bears (and for her treatment of the other bears in general). She said she was sorry that she made his "weak-willed friends kick his scrawny pathetic ass." Midge and Ella were standing right there when she said it. Midge and Ella are elephants. Elephants who'd already given Sara a mild thumping and threatened more/worse if she didn't apologize. They proceeded to deliver on that threat.
• In Blue Yonder, Lena doesn't want Kevin's apology, she wants him to apologize to Jared.
• Homestuck: Vriska orders Tavros to apologize for a condition that Vriska herself was directly responsible for! For once, Tavros refuses - and calls Vriska out on her bullshit!
• In The Order of the Stick, V is OK with apologizing in the present case, but is forced to do so without magic.
• Paranatural has this dialogue in a flashback:
  Damien: I'm gonna hurt your son, Mrs. Puckett.
  Big sister: D-DAMIEN! A-apologize right now!
  Damien: I'm sorry for what I'm gonna do to your son, Mrs. Puckett.
• Widdershins: When the former servant of a Deadly, Dominik Voss, wants to join the heroes to fight the Deadly, Benjamin Thackerey, who has had a brush with him before, isn't eager about that. Wolfe asks Dominik what he has to say to Ben, and he mutters that he wasn't even aiming to him. Then Wolfe elbows him in the side, and he tells Ben he is very sorry.

Western Animation

• An Abbott & Costello cartoon had the boys as wood choppers. Lou says something to insult their foreman so Bud tells Lou to say he's sorry to him.
  Costello: You're the boss, and am I sorry!
• In an episode of Allen Gregory, Allen Gregory found his biological mother and thought she was great until she made him apologize to his teacher.
• Arthur:
  • In "Arthur's Big Hit", Arthur is furious that D.W. kept messing with his model plane despite him repeatedly telling her not to touch it, especially since she ended up destroying it, and furiously punches her. Arthur's parents demand that he apologize to his sister, but he refuses to do so and gets grounded from TV for a week as a result. He does apologize when Binky, under peer pressure from the Tough Customers, punches him.
  • In "So Funny I Forgot to Laugh", Mr. Ratburn chides Arthur for constant mockery of Sue Ellen's new sweater, saying that it's bullying, and makes him write an apology letter to give her the next day. Arthur, believing everyone's blowing the issue way out of proportion, ends up writing a backhanded apology letter.
• Beavis And Butthead: Deconstructed in the episode "Breakdown". Principal McVicker ends up in the nuthouse after being harassed by Beavis and Butt-Head one too many times. Van Driessen decides to send the two over to his facility and orders them to apologize to McVicker for what happened. Of course, being Beavis and Butt-Head, they don't care whatsoever and drive him up the wall further to the point that McVicker requires electroshock therapy (to their amusement). Appalled at the duo's callousness towards McVicker's predicament, Van Driessen ends up suffering a mental breakdown himself.
• The Boondocks:
  • During a dinner get together in "The Itis", Riley tells Sarah Dubois that her peach cobbler looks like vomit with peas in it. Grandad orders him to apologize and Riley, being Riley, tells her he's sorry her peach cobbler looks like vomit with peas in it.
  • In "Smokin' with Cigarettes", Lamilton Taeshawn is forced by his grandmother to apologize to the Freeman family for bringing Riley along with him on an illegal joyride, being extremely transparent that he does not mean it whatsoever.
• On an episode of The Cleveland Show, Rallo is forced to give one by Donna after he plays a practical joke on Junior in retaliation for having his dessert taken from him resulting in Junior missing a weekend retreat and being suspended from the Freedom Scouts: however, it backfires when Rallo hands out a string of half-assed apologies.
• In one episode of Ed, Edd n Eddy, Eddy inadvertently disgraces Rolf's honor by throwing a sea cucumber ball. Double-D then makes Eddy give Rolf a potted plant as a way to apologize. Unfortunately, in Rolf's country, it's seen as the Potted Shrub of Ridicule and Eddy ends up getting challenged to a duel by an angry Rolf. Double D later suggests cupcakes as an apology present, which Eddy turns down... then Rolf asks about the "Cupcakes of Sorriness" during the actual duel.
• Coco from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends has demanded apologies on several occasions:
  • In the episode, "Crime After Crime", she holds Mr. Herriman's carrot stash in exchange for a written apology from him for falsely sending her to her room without supper.
  • In the episode, "Cuckoo for Coco Cards", she demands an apology from Bloo for stealing the attention from her. She gives him a pen, an apology card, and a self-addressed envelope. Bloo refuses to apologize to her and tries to collect all the trading cards of the Imaginary Friends without her help, until he finds out what his status is on his card: Big Insensitive Jerkface.
• The Magic Roundabout: In "Kiss and Make Up", Dougal realises that Ermintrude was actually helping Mr. Rusty and Brian after he and Ermintrude has fallen out due to a misunderstanding (Dougal thought Ermintrude was shouting and screaming at Mr. Rusty and Brian after seeing her from a distance), and when Florence finds out about this, she makes Dougal to go and apologise to Ermintrude immediately. But unknown to Florence, Dougal refuses and send Fly to deliver the message. Once Florence hears about this, she again makes him go and apologise while convincing him to do so. Dougal finally obliges and apologises to Ermintrude about the misunderstanding where the two make up and become friends again.
• The Powerpuff Girls (1998): In "Paste Makes Waste", Buttercup makes fun of classmate Elmer for eating paste and throws a wad of it at his face. A furious Miss Keane orders her to apologize to him, but she Cannot Spit It Out and instead says "You should have ducked". Buttercup finally does when Elmer mutates into a giant paste monster and she literally has no choice but to apologize in order to subdue him.
• Rugrats (1991): In "Chuckie's Wonderful Life", Angelica steals Chas' Latvian Folk Dance CD and convinces Chuckie that it's his fault that the CD got lost. When Drew discovers that Angelica took the CD and returns it to Chas, he makes her apologize to him for taking it.
• SpongeBob SquarePants: In "Little Yellow Book", Squidward steals SpongeBob's diary and reads it to everyone in the Krusty Krab, leading to SpongeBob running out of the Krusty Krab crying and everyone else to shun Squidward for doing so. Mr. Krabs^note who was not one of the hypocrites laughing at SpongeBob's secrets demands that Squidward apologize to SpongeBob, but Squidward refuses, saying SpongeBob will get over it.
• Thomas & Friends:
  • In "Twin Trouble", Donald demands an apology from Douglas when he accuses him of pushing him into Trevor's hay cart. Douglas refuses, and blames Donald for pulling him. Fortunately, the two do apologize to each other after Douglas rescues Donald when the latter falls into a ditch at the end of the episode.
  • In "Thomas, Emily, and the Snowplough", when Emily comes to rescue Thomas from a snowdrift, Thomas demands that Emily apologize to him for her bossy attitude. What he gets from her is a Backhanded Apology for not listening to her when she told him to wear his snowplow.
  • An implied version occurs at the end of "Signals Crossed". After James pushes Toby and Henrietta past a red signal, nearly causing them to crash into Gordon, Henrietta glares at James when it is discovered that Toby was right about his signal being red. James then apologizes to both Toby and Henrietta.
  • At the end of "No Steam Without Coal", Marion orders Bill and Ben to thank Timothy for delivering their coal during a coal shortage, then she orders them to apologize to him for how badly they treated him just because he runs on oil instead of coal.

Real Life

• A number of parents with at least two kids (or even just one); especially the more temperamental ones, and probably a number of elementary school teachers as well.
• More of a downplayed trope with a job, a boss can just as easily fire you as accept an apology from you; though if you catch them in a merciful mood it's best to act on that mercy and apologize if you want to keep your job. This mindset is especially strict in a military setting as a soldier that misbehaves one too many times will be court martialed, and God help you if you happen to be in politics and you get caught in a scandal.
• General George S. Patton slapped two soldiers that were suffering Shellshock (thinking them to be cowards), even brandishing his pistol at one of them. Eisenhower opted to order Patton to apologize (both privately and publicly) for the incident in lieu of a formal investigation or reprimand.
• Television regulators in the United Kingdom will often require broadcasters to broadcast apologies should they put out something that's defamatory, harmful or grossly misleading, apologies which tend to be shown in sombre and serious contexts rather than cheerfully like normal continuity announcements would be.
  • Channel 4 was ordered to broadcast an apology to a fire prevention officer from Bolton called Keith Laird, after Phoenix Nights depicted a fire prevention officer from Bolton called Keith Lard... who happened to have a penchant for bestiality. It appears after the episode in question on the DVD release of the show also.
  • The makers of Brass Eye were required to show a slide after the "Drugs" episode on its DVD release following a complaint to the then-ITC, advising that the MP David Amess (who had been tricked into not only filming a campaign video against an imaginary drug called "cake", but also asking a question about it in Parliament) was completely against the taking of illegal drugs.
  • Less seriously, presenters of live programmes are expected to immediately and fulsomely apologise should someone swear or say something else that's similarly offensive or defamatory. Shaun Ryder, the lead singer of the Happy Mondays, infamously ran so far afoul of this on an episode of TFIFriday that Channel 4's manual for producers carried the specific warning that "the Channel 4 Board has undertaken to the ITC that Shaun Ryder will not appear live on Channel 4", so becoming the only person specifically named as a compliance risk.

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