Samantha Bee apologized for the first time on air Wednesday during the opening of her cable talk show for using a slur to describe Ivanka Trump last week.
‘I crossed the line. I regret it and I do apologize for it,’ a solemn-faced Bee said at the start of her show, Full Frontal, on TBS.
‘The problem is, a lot of women have heard that word at the worst time in their lives, and don’t want it reclaimed.
‘I don’t want to inflict more pain on them. I want this show to be challenging and to be honest.
‘I never intended it to hurt anyone except Ted Cruz,’ she joked.
Samantha Bee apologized for the first time on air Wednesday during the opening of her cable talk show for using a slur to describe Ivanka Trump last week
‘I crossed the line. I regret it and I do apologize for it,’ a solemn-faced Bee said at the start of her show, Full Frontal, on TBS
The former Daily Show correspondent also said that she ‘didn’t care’ that some men were offended by her use of the ‘C’ word.
She said she ‘hated that it distracted from more important issues.’
Bee also did a satirical segment on the ‘censors’ who will monitor her show for profanity.
The controversy over the four-letter ‘C’ word erupted during her May 30 show during which she referred to Ivanka Trump as a ‘feckless c***.’
Bee’s vulgur put-down of Ivanka came during a monologue about longstanding immigraton policy that requires illegal-immigrant children to be held and processed separately from adults.
In response, President Donald Trump demanded to know why the TBS network isn’t ‘firing no talent Samantha Bee for the horrible language used on her low ratings show.’
‘A total double standard but that’s O.K., we are Winning, and will be doing so for a long time to come!’ the president tweeted.
Bee used the slur ‘feckless c***’ to slam Ivanka for not intervening in immigration policy that separates illegal immigrant children from their parents; she is vocally anti-Trump but until Wednesday hadn’t branded members of his family with vicious obscenities
Ivanka Trump shared a photo with her son Theodore on Instagram Sunday, which showed the mother affectionately holding her youngest child (above)
President Donald Trump called Bee’s continued employment ‘a total double standard,’ likely referring to the recent cancelation of conservative Roseanne Barr’s sitcom following a racist tweet
Trump’s reference to a ‘double standard’ on Friday morning was likely a jab meant to remind Americans that conservative comedienne Roseanne Barr saw her sitcom cancelled and her agent fire her in a matter of hours after she sent a racist tweet last week.
Barr was fired by Disney-owned ABC after she tweeted that former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett was the offspring of ‘the Muslim Brotherhood and Planet of the Apes.’
Bee apologized for the ‘c***’ slur a day later, but only after sponsors began to withdraw their advertisements from her program.
Autotrader was the first to pull the plug.
Before the apology, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders called Bee’s language ‘vile and vicious’ and said executives at TBS and corporate parent Time Warner should demonstrate that they wouldn’t tolerate explicit profanity about female members of the administration.
While viewers of ‘Full Frontal’ know there’s little Bee likes about President Trump, her vicious slap at his daughter was intended as a way to urged her to speak to her father about policies that separate illegal-immigrant children from their parents.
‘You know, Ivanka, that’s a beautiful photo of you and your child, but let me just say, one mother to another, do something about your dad’s immigration practices, you feckless c***,’ she said after showing a photo of Ivanka and her toddler son Theodore.
The incident quickly thrust Bee into the middle of the nation’s political divide with the White House slamming the comment as ‘vile and vicious.’
Online car marketplace Autotrader called Bee’s comments ‘unacceptable’ as it announced it was withdrawing from advertising on her ‘Full Frontal’ show.
‘Thank you to those who reached out regarding our sponsorship of Full Frontal. The comments expressed by Samantha Bee were offensive and unacceptable and do not reflect the views of our company. As a result, we have suspended our sponsorship of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee,’ a Twitter statement read.
FULL TEXT OF SAMANTHA BEE’S MONOLOGUE ON FULL FRONTAL
‘You know, a lot of people were offended and angry I used an epithet to describe the president’s daughter and adviser last week.
‘It is a word I have used on the show many times, hoping to reclaim it.
‘This time I used it as an insult. I crossed the line, I regret it and I do apologize for that.
‘The problem is, that many women have heard that word at the worst moments of thelr lives. A lot of them don’t want that word reclaimed.
‘They want it gone. And, I don’t blame them.
‘I don’t want to inflict more pain on them. I want this show to be challenging and I want it to be honest, but I never intended it to hurt anyone, except Ted Cruz.
‘Many men were also offended by my use of the word. I do not care about that.
‘I hate that this distracted from more important issues. I hate that I did something to contribute to the nightmare of 24-hour news cycles that we’re all white-knuckling through.
‘I should have known that a potty-mouthed insult would be inherently more interesting a to them than juvenile immigration policy.
‘I would do anything to help those kids. I hate that this distracted from them. So, to them I am also sorry.
‘And look, if you are worried about he death of civility. Don’t sweat it. I’m a comedian.
‘People who hone their voices in basement bars while yelling back at drunk hecklers are definitely not paragons of civility.
‘I’m really sorry that I said that word. But, you know what?
‘Civility is just nice words, may we should all worry little bit more about the niceness of our actions.
‘Thank you for listening.’