Reminds me of when I walked into a lady's backyard to bury a line and she came out holding a broom like I was gonna rob her in broad daylight. I had to stand there with my hands up like a bank teller explaining that the phone company sent me. My uniform said CENTURYLINK across the whole chest and she still looked at me like I had three heads. Best part is she called the office later to say some strange man was creeping around and they had to tell her yeah, we know, we sent him. Half the job is doing the work, the other half is proving you're not a criminal or an alien.

Here's the thing though. Maybe the apology isn't yours to call finished just because the guy said you two were cool. The room saw the joke too, and they don't get to unsee it. People have a right to feel how they feel about stuff you put out there. An apology that's about you wanting the story closed is sorta just damage control. If half the room still thinks you're a jerk, that's their call to make, not yours. Maybe what you said in 2019 told them something about you that one sorry later can't erase, and you kinda have to live with that.