Apology Not Accepted

""Okay. I don't forgive you.""

- Herb Kazzazz, BoJack Horseman.

Fiction loves to advocate for Forgiveness and Turning the Other Cheek. A person has done a terrible thing. They are truly remorseful and are willing to make amends. A simple apology will probably do the trick.

Except real life isn't all about that; in addition to some people holding grudges, some actions are too heinous to be Easily Forgiven. Apology Not Accepted happens when the injured party refuses a verbal, written or otherwise communicated apology. Most cases portray the person rejecting the apology as a grudge holder and unsympathetic. There is the rare case where a work acknowledges that some things cannot be forgiven. The Aesop then becomes that sometimes, an apology in and of itself doesn't fix things, and no one is obligated to forgive you.

You will most likely see this trope in a drama, though there are comedic examples.

Note: On TV Tropes, this is referred to as the Rejected Apology. Changing it proactively.

Anime and Manga

 * In Pet Shop of Horrors, Leon's little brother Chris comes to live with him after being raised by their aunt and uncle. Why? Because Chris thought his aunt and uncle were his parents; his cousin Sam rather brusquely broke the news that they weren't siblings, and he was indirectly responsible for his real's mother death, since she had him at fifty. This revelation traumatized Chris so much that he stopped speaking, much to his aunt and uncle's dismay. Despite them giving a What the Hell, Hero? to Sam, the damage was done. They decide it's best if he tries living with Leon to see if it helps. Leon doesn't blame Chris at all for what happened and freely makes room for his little brother and asking D to watch Chris while Leon works. While their aunt and uncle want Chris to come back with them for the winter holidays, they concede upon seeing Leon dressed up as Santa with presents for Chris. The final volume has Sam come to the pet shop where D is watching Chris, and says that she wants Chris back in her life. She apologizes for what she said, and asks if they can try again. At first, Chris isn't into it, and makes that clear despite his inability to speak. Not helping is D told Chris that the minute he can speak again, he won't be able to see Pon-chan or T-chan as humanoid. The thought horrifies Chris.
 * In her comic memoir Return to Society Punch!, Naoko Takeuchi recounted that everyone at Kodansha was so sorry because they lost several pages of PQ Angels, her follow-up series and they kept passing the buck about who had the pages. (This was in the days before digital backups and scans were a thing.) To add insult to injury, this was after she had been pressured to do another long-form series after finishing Sailor Moon, despite begging for a break, and she was burned out from working all the time. Takeuchi got so fed up that she quit Kodansha, took a long-needed vacation for a year, and went to work for Shueisha instead. To this day, the only series that one may consider finished would be Toki*Meca in addition to Sailor Moon.
 * Sailor Moon
 * In an early episode, Shingo accidentally breaks his best friend Mika's handmade prizewinning doll at school, after hearing teasing comments stating she's his girlfriend. He clams up rather than apologizing, and their classmates tell Usagi about this when she's getting out of detention that day. Usagi confronts Shingo, as he's crumpling up apology notes, and tells him to go to Mika's house and say he's sorry now, or she's telling their mom. Shingo tries, but by then Nephrite beat him to the punch and has compelled Mika to make dolls while not talking to anyone, under possession of a youma. She won't even hear him out; when Shingo asks Usagi for advice, she suggests maybe a present would do the trick. He makes a clay Sailor Moon doll, and brings it to Mika at her next doll exhibition. It's only then that he and Usagi realize a youma had possessed Mika, and drains her; Shingo's attempts to rescue her lead to the youma knocking him out in turn and smashing the clay doll. With that said, Mika revives, sees the clay shards as well as Shingo's apologetic look, and finally forgives him.
 * In the S finale, Sailor Uranus and Neptune call out Usagi for the fact that

Comic Books

 * The Legend of Korra comic Ruins of the Empire
 * Kuvira says she is sorry multiple times, and no one accepts them. Only one rejection actually makes Kuvira start her Heel Realization: when her  Baatar Jr. says he doesn't forgive her.
 * As for Baatar Jr., he is truly repentant about From what we've heard, his mother is the only one who has forgiven him and
 * The Sandman has Dream apologetically and solemnly tell Rose this multiple times as he prepares to.

Film

 * In Lilo & Stitch, Mertle says this word-for-word when Lilo apologizes for attacking her in dance class and biting her. Lilo's apology is sincere, but from her expression she knows that even if Mertle weren't The Bully and Alpha Bitch, she wasn't expecting any forgiveness.
 * One heartbreaking version in the sequel Lilo & Stitch: Stitch Has A Glitch. The climax has Stitch realizing that his DNA is coming apart, compelling him to attack everyone around him including Lilo, and he runs off after scratching her before her big recital. Lilo abandons the recital to rescue Stitch as he prepares to fly away and keep from harming her. She says that she's sorry for yelling at him earlier after Jumba finally tells her what the problem is, but please come back. Stitch says that he can't come back, to keep her safe, before glitching again and crashing into the mountainside.
 * The Little Mermaid has Sebastian attempt to apologize to a sobbing Ariel for accidentally revealing her crush on a human to Triton as well as her grotto of human trinkets, which led to Triton destroying it all to "teach her a lesson". Sebastian only gets as far as her name before she tells him to go away. All he and Flounder can do is leave heartbroken, with Flounder also sniffling. Unfortunately, this leaves her vulnerable enough for Flotsam and Jetsam to convince her to visit Ursula. The pair does make up when Sebastian helps Flounder get Ariel's human form to the surface after Ursula transforms her, and he agrees that rather than tell Triton about this development, he'll help her win Eric's heart so she has a chance at happiness.

Literature

 * The novel 72 Hour Hold features the protagonist Keri delivering this to her mother when the woman gets sober and wants to reenter her life. Keri's mother was a drunk who often abandoned her daughter emotionally. The first time she tried to get sober, she messed it up. Most recently, it was that she remarried. Not helping is that Keri's daughter Trina has developed a form of bipolar disorder that has killed her chances of going to college, and Trina doesn't comply with a regular routine or meds, which leads to her getting kicked out of a program that was helping her. As a result, when her mother tries getting in touch with Keri again, Keri turns her down rudely to focus on managing Trina.  Trina's father and Keri's ex Clyde notes that her mother might mean it this time. Realizing that she needs to prove she has changed,.
 * Divergent has Al bawling when he apologizes to
 * Harry Potter has this happen a few times in the past and the present:
 * Zigzagged with Percy in the last two books, because he doesn't apologize at first for Percy is given a few moments with his family, where he could apologize for being an ambitious ass, while the Minister talks to Harry. Harry refuses to spy on Dumbledore and tells off Scrimgoeur for imprisoning people based on what they say rather than if they're guilty, and Percy acted like the previous year didn't happen so his younger siblings tossed mashed parsnips at him, including Ginny. It took the year after, while being held hostage in the Death Eater-run Ministry, for Percy to realize how badly he had fucked up; even if he did apologize, the Burrow was under the Fidelius Charm after the coup and the Death Eaters would harm Ginny at Hogwarts if he did anything. Percy ends up apologizing before the Battle at Hogwarts, and fully admitting he was a "power-hungry Ministry loving moron" in Fred's words, which allows his family to forgive him.
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows showed in a flashback that Severus Snape

Live-Action TV

 * Buffy the Vampire Slayer
 * In the season 2 premiere, Buffy is suffering bad PTSD from, and it means that she's unusually sour with all her friends. Xander tolerates this until vampires kidnap Willow, along with Giles and Cordelia, . Buffy is horrified and apologizes for being off her game. He tells her to shove it unless she can help mount a rescue, though they later make up once their friends are saved. Whether or not Xander had a point is muddied by the fact that Buffy doesn't have access to a therapist who would believe her about vampires, given in season six she revealed that she was committed before the show started for writing in her diary about Slayer duties shortly before she burned down her old high school.
 * In "Lover's Walk" in season three, Cordelia and Oz learn that.
 * Like in the comic, The Sandman has these moments:
 * Death yells at Dream for worrying her and not calling for help when Burgess held him captive. She calls him so self-tempered and proud while confiscating the bread loaf he was using to feed pigeons. He gives a meek apology; in response she tosses the bread at him. With that said, Death does forgive him, and takes her with him on his rounds.
 * Dream say he's sorry to Rose in the first season finale because
 * Better Call Saul:
 * In the wake of, Howard Hamlin innocently tells Jimmy that he suspects , which he did. Later, Jimmy's girlfriend and partner in crime Kim confronts him and completely tears into him, screaming in his face about how insensitive and selfish he was for offloading his guilt over onto Jimmy. Despite being genuinely apologetic and willing to make things right, Kim tells him to piss off and storms out of his office. But unlike most examples of this trope, Kim is the one who's clearly in the wrong. While she's genuine about her care of Jimmy, she's also hijacking  and using it as an excuse to be nasty to Howard due to unresolved feelings of anger and betrayal over how their working relationship went sour. And later on, this rejected apology would serve as the starting point in
 * Likewise, when dies, Mike visits his father to deliver the news. Mike, who had grown fond of  but was forced to let him die on Gus Fring's orders assures his dad that there will be justice for his son's death and that he'll get revenge on the Salamancas, but he's not having any of it. As far as he's concerned, violence begets violence, and there's no true meaningful difference between the violence that took his son and the violence that will be inflicted on the Salamancas. After throwing Mike's words back in his face and making it clear that he's no better than the men responsible for his son's death, he ends the conversation right there and leaves.

Newspaper Comics

 * Zigzagged in an early Calvin and Hobbes arc. Calvin is sincerely apologetic for making Susie cry by calling her names. He messes up an early apology to her but then tells her that he didn't mean to make her cry. When she accepts it, he runs off relieved, glad that was easy. Susie then shouts after Calvin that he could grovel a little.
 * FoxTrot:
 * An early arc has a serious example where Peter writes secret admirer notes to Paige as a prank, and lets her wait in the rain for several hours before revealing the ruse and laughing at her. In response she glares at him on the walk home, retreats to her room, and broods after changing to dry clothes. Andy tries to mediate, and presumably explains to Peter that what he did was pretty awful, but Peter does his apology while decked in catcher's clothes in case Paige punches him in the face. Paige in the next strip makes it clear she doesn't accept his apology, giving him a The Reason You Suck Speech about how it felt nice that someone thought she was special, and it wasn't funny to find out it was a joke. Peter looks genuinely guilty, and as an apology he bakes her cookies. Even so, it takes a while for them offscreen to make peace.
 * In one case, Paige obsessed over a signed BackSync Boys photo that she received, and she was terrified to leave it at home while she was at school, but was also not wanting to let it leave her sight. Andy dissuaded her from calling a security company to protect it, saying that she would watch the photo while Paige was at school. Paige made her mother promise to keep an eye on it. Andy promises, just as Quincy gets out of his cage. The next strip has Andy trying to first skirt responsibility by checking if Paige forgot about their conversation, freaking out Paige as she immediately realizes what must have happened. Quincy chewed up the photo, leaving only chewed-up bits on Paige's desk. Andy apologizes, but Paige holds a grudge against her for breaking her promise, and for trying to do "legal loopholes" to not feel guilty by saying her shoelaces were crossed and that a person can't watch a photo for 24 hours. Peter tries to talk sense into Paige, pointing out she's being on hard on their mother, but Paige starts making Andy do extra chores and pampering for her out of guilt. This only ends when the BackSync Boys send Paige a few dozen autographed photos, rendering her rage useless. When she apologizes to her mother for being unreasonable, Andy simply forgives her.

Theatre

 * The Little Mermaid goes further in the stage show with Sebastian being able to apologize to Ariel after accidentally outing her love for Eric and grotto to Triton. Ariel rejects the apology and says she's running away to find Eric on the surface. Sebastian doesn't help his case by starting "Under the Sea" to convince her to stay in the ocean, as she swims off in frustration.

Video Games

 * In Undertale, you can choose to not forgive when he says that he is sorry. He understands why, all things considered.

Western Animation

 * Avatar: The Last Airbender: A horrifying example in flashback in season three: Zuko spoke out of turn during a war meeting about a general who wanted to use recruits as canon fodder, against Iroh's warnings, and had to settle the argument through an Agni Kai, a fire duel that can be lethal. He thought he would fight the general who brought up the plan he hated, but instead would have to fight his father, Emperor Ozai. Out of filial piety and fear, Zuko apologizes to Ozai for his breach of etiquette and says that he won't fight his own father. In response, Ozai burns off part of his face to "teach" a bit of respect, and exiled his heir. Iroh couldn't watch while Zhao and a young Azula cheered Ozai on with glee.
 * Zuko sincerely apologizes to the Gaang when trying to convince them . Sokka and Katara aren't into it, and Aang is unusually hostile towards Zuko While they do later agree to take him under probation.
 * BoJack Horseman uses this to denote when BoJack has irreparably screwed up or damaged a relationship. He's not the only character to undergo these screw-ups, but he is the main one:
 * "The Telescope" has BoJack give an "I feel bad, I'm sorry" apology to his mentor Herb Kazzaz when the latter has terminal cancer. He had refused to stand up for Herb when the latter was outed as a gay man, fired from Horsin' Around, and blacklisted, and hadn't talked to him in twenty years. Herb delivers the first Wham! Line of the series: "| I don't forgive you." He says that it wasn't getting fired that hurt; it was that he needed a friend, and BoJack wasn't there for him before or after the firing. Herb will never forget that his best friend abandoned him in his time of need.
 * In "Escape From L.A.," BoJack turns down Penny Carson's advances on him because, as he explains, she is seventeen and he is old enough to be her father. Even if she's seventeen, the age of consent in New Mexico, it would be wrong..
 * A variant happens in "Fish Out of Water." While promoting Secretariat in an underwater city, BoJack spots Kelsey Jannings promoting another indie film to an audience of none. He remembers that he got her fired, and hides from her. Also, thanks to the aquatic suits they're wearing, BoJack can't verbally talk to her. His first attempts to deliver her an apology note leads to him on a bus that goes thirty nautical miles out of the city, and his second attempt is literally watered down as he tries to deliver it to her, but she points out that all the ink washed away in the sea current.
 * Princess Carolyn ends up on the receiving end of this in "Best Thing That Ever Happened" from BoJack of all people. The reason is that she screwed up his chance to be in two movies, one that would have mended his friendship with Kelsey since he got her fired from Secretariat. BoJack prepares to fire Princess Carolyn for her screwup, and much of the episode is about Princess Carolyn trying to apologize, beg, negotiate, and point out that she's had to clean up many of BoJack's screw-ups over twenty three years' worth of representation and one mistake shouldn't mar their relationship..
 * "It's You" has Todd shutting down BoJack's attempts to apologize for They do reconcile later, but Todd sets clear boundaries with BoJack and refuses to be his Butt Monkey or charity project to make BoJack feel better by default.
 * "The Old Sugarman Place" shows in flashback that BoJack's maternal grandparents Joseph and Honey had a variant after Honey drunkenly made their daughter Beatrice, BoJack's mother, drive their car after a party and caused them to crash. Why did Honey engage in these dangerous antics? Because she was grieving her older son Crackerjack, who died in the Second World War, and wanted to feel alive again. While covered in lacerations and scratches, Honey begged Joseph not to despise her for her "hysterics," apologizing for acting out, and Joseph yelled at her both for making a scene at a nearby party and nearly getting Beatrice killed. Beatrice tried to mediate by asking her father not to yell at her mother, but both parents ignored her.
 * In "Free Churro," BoJack wonders if his mother was saying that she was sorry
 * "The Stopped Show" has a drug-addicted BoJack learn that he
 * "Xerox of A Xerox" ends this way, on an industry-wide level. BoJack and Princess Carolyn stage an apology interview after BoJack's friend group gets wind of a news story that will
 * "Nice While It Lasted" has a really sad one, in the series finale. BoJack finds Diane on the roof at.
 * One Tom and Jerry short has a piano fall on Tom while he's tormenting Jerry. The cat at the pearly white gates says that Tom can't get into heaven unless he has Jerry sign a certificate of forgiveness within an hour. Tom returns to life, frantic; he tries to offer a cake as an apology to Jerry, only for Jerry to eat the cake and spray pen ink in the cat's face. Faking the signature won't work because both the cat angels and dog demons are watching. When they both see the dog demon laughing as the clock ticks, Tom starts to beg and mimes his predicament, and Jerry is bewildered but signs the agreement. Unfortunately, Tom is too late and ends up in Hell... until he wakes up by the fire where a stray coal had burned him and realizes it was a dream. He not only sighs in relief but also knocks on Jerry's mouse hole, thanking him with kisses. Naturally, Jerry is confused, and ends the short shrugging at the camera but not complaining.
 * Total Drama has "drama" in the title for a reason.
 * While they were both at the resort for the eliminated contestants in season one, Harold reveals he tried to apologize to Courtney after rigging the votes and getting her knocked out of the competition, and admits it was immature of him to take out his frustration at Duncan and DJ on Duncan's Love Interest. Courtney spends the episode chasing him down, eventually wrapping a telephone pole around him. She says the only way he could make up for it is by voting for Duncan to win. Naturally, Harold refuses.
 * In an episode leading to the season one finale that has no eliminations except for "Mr. Coconut," the Companion Cube that Owen created, the final four contestants get stranded on a remote part of the island due to a freak flood. Heather cries on a confession cam when recapping the moment that Gwen and Duncan abandoned her in favor of sailing a raft to find civilization, after Duncan made an "every camper for themselves" credo, and apologized to Beth and Lindsay on-camera for using them to get her win. It didn't work; the followup special showed both girls refused to ally with Heather again.
 * Gwen and Courtney ended up trading this dynamic for a bit during and after season three. At first, Courtney was convinced that Duncan had a thing for Gwen; Gwen even told Courtney in season two that Duncan only had eyes for his girlfriend. Unfortunately, Courtney was proven right, and Duncan in season three kisses Gwen in front of the confession cam...and a shocked Tyler. Everyone finds out about Duncan's cheating next episode, and public opinion of Gwen becomes dismal. Gwen is truly apologetic when the truth comes out, because she considers Courtney a friend, and throws an elimination challenge that allows Courtney to stay. Courtney doesn't accept the apology until All-Stars where Gwen breaks up with Duncan for Courtney's sake and does a cathartic wrestling match with All-Stars. Then the roles get reversed in "Sunday Muddy Sundae" when Mal discovers that.