a series of Indigenous writers, activists and politicians including Wab Kinew, Drew Hayden Taylor Hayden King, Ryan McMahon, and others wrote about the controversy in national media. They asked on what basis Joseph felt he had expertise to represent issues if he was not Indigenous, and asked to whom he was accountable, as some of the positions he was presenting seemed out of line with ongoing work in Indigenous communities. On January 12, 2017, Joseph gave his first public interviews since the appearance of the APTN article. He personally selected the interviewers who were both friends of his, Mark Medley of The Globe and Mail, and Candy Palmater, a comedian who occasionally worked at CBC. Joseph now admitted he had erroneously identified himself as Mi'kmaq in the past. He continued to identify as a "white kid with native roots", Ojibway on his mother's side and Nipmuc on his father's side. He denied that he had relied on his identity as an Indigenous person to popularize his books, and he stated he had only won one literary prize based on heritage and little money. He did, however, apologize for taking up too much of the "air space" and stated he would do less public speaking, thus allowing for Indigenous voices to be heard in the media. Reaction to the interviews was mixed. Subsequent reports by Canadaland and other researchers turned up inconsistencies in Joseph's claims and failed to find any native ancestry in Joseph's background. In an August 2, 2017 essay in Maclean's magazine, Joseph Boyden stated that he had taken a DNA test which listed "Native American DNA". For Joseph's critics, the results mean little, as broad DNA categories do not constitute membership to a nation. According to First Nations genetics expert Kim Tallbear, DNA testing for Native ancestry as a racial category is not scientifically possible, and is often confused with DNA testing that confirms specific familial lineage. Joseph's ex-wife Amanda Boyden was asked about the DNA testing in a 2020 interview, and described the results as showing "a few drops of indigenous blood from... Greenland", and stated that Joseph "has no DNA that can be traced to the First Nations people in Canada or the Americas at large". The public revelations about Joseph's roots threatened to impact the release of his new fiction novel. Ojibway filmmaker Lisa Meeches stepped forward to adopt Joseph as a spiritual sibling, saying