Samantha Bee apologizes to Ivanka Trump for vulgar slur
"I crossed a line, and I deeply regret it."
NEW YORK (AP) — Samantha Bee apologized to Ivanka Trump and viewers on Thursday for using an obscenity to describe her on a segment of her TBS comedy show.
Bee said her language was ‘‘inappropriate and inexcusable.
‘‘I crossed a line, and I deeply regret it,’’ she said.
I would like to sincerely apologize to Ivanka Trump and to my viewers for using an expletive on my show to describe her last night. It was inappropriate and inexcusable. I crossed a line, and I deeply regret it.
— Samantha Bee (@iamsambee) May 31, 2018
Bee called Ivanka Trump a ‘‘feckless c—’’ toward the end of a segment about President Trump’s immigration policies on her show, ‘‘Full Frontal,’’ on Wednesday. She used the slur in urging Ivanka Trump to speak to her father about policies that separate children from their parents.
Bee said, ‘‘Put on something tight and low-cut and tell your father to f—ing stop it.’’
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders called Bee’s language ‘‘vile and vicious’’ and said executives at TBS and corporate parent Time Warner needed to demonstrate that such explicit profanity about female members of the administration would not be condoned.
TBS issued its own statement saying Bee was right to apologize. ‘‘It was our mistake, too, and we regret it,’’ the network said. Nothing was said about whether Bee or the show would face disciplinary action.
Samantha Bee has taken the right action in apologizing for the vile and inappropriate language she used about Ivanka Trump last night. Those words should not have been aired. It was our mistake too, and we regret it.
— TBS Network (@TBSNetwork) May 31, 2018
Coming two days after ABC canceled ‘‘Roseanne’’ following a racist tweet about former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, Bee’s remark was immediately seized upon by conservatives who believe that offensive language by liberals is not viewed as harshly.
Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary under President George W. Bush, tweeted that there’s a double standard in action when you compare the mainstream media’s reactions between the two events.
‘‘There’s no uprising against Bee,’’ Fleischer wrote. ‘‘Why? Because she is a liberal. Because the MSM protects Obama and his aides, but not Trump. The hypocrisy is sickening.’’
Bee, formerly at ‘‘The Daily Show’’ with Jon Stewart, got her own show at TBS and it’s one of the network’s biggest successes.
Bee’s commentary is likely to be a corporate headache. Time Warner, which owns channels including TBS, CNN and HBO, is in the process of being acquired by AT&T for $85 billion. The Justice Department has sued to block the deal, however, due to monopoly concerns, and a decision on whether or not it will proceed is expected June 12.
