Samantha Bee is apologizing for crossing a line in a Full Frontal immigration segment aimed at Ivanka Trump in Wednesday's episode. "Do something," the TBS host urged, calling the president's daughter and aide a female slur. The offending word was bleeped.
"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," Bee said in her apology tweet, published Thursday afternoon. "It was inappropriate and inexcusable. I crossed a line, and I deeply regret it."
In a separate statement, TBS said, "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.”
Her remarks, and the network's response, came hours after the White House registered its disgust and TBS pulled the clip from YouTube.
Stephanie Grisham, a spokeswoman for first lady Melania Trump, accused the media of bias in quickly canceling Roseanne over its star's racist tweet, directed at former President Obama's aide Valerie Jarrett, but merely apologizing for language directed at President Trump's daughter.
"The double standard is truly astounding," Grisham said. "Time and again the Trump family and members of this administration are subjected to false reporting, hateful rhetoric and outrageous lies, all in the name of freedom of speech or comedy, yet the mainstream media stays silent."
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also weighed in: “The language used by Samantha Bee last night is vile and vicious. The collective silence by the left and its media allies is appalling,” she said in a statement. "Her disgusting comments and show are not fit for broadcast, and executives at Time Warner and TBS must demonstrate that such explicit profanity about female members of this administration will not be condoned on its network.”
Used-car marketplace AutoTrader.com also announced Thursday that it was pulling its ads from Full Frontal amid the mounting backlash.
"Thank you to those who reached out regarding our sponsorship of Full Frontal," they announced on Twitter. " 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."
How it began
The TBS host had a short but striking message for the first daughter, whom she urged to "do something" about her father's immigration policy rather than post "the second most oblivious tweet we've seen this week."
"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 (expletive)," she said. "He listens to you."
Bee suggested, "Put on something tight and low cut and tell your father to (expletive) stop it," she said. "Tell him it was an Obama thing and see how it goes."
The Trump administration has been stepping up criminal prosecutions of people crossing the border illegally this month, in line with President Trump campaign promises. Earlier this week, debate sparked around the administration's policy of separating immigrant children from their parents at the border.
Bee also suggested a way to get the president to listen."Put on something tight and low cut and tell your father to (expletive) stop it," she said. "Tell him it was an Obama thing and see how it goes."
The reaction
Bee's comment, especially the use of the c-word, didn't go without notice, as many tweeted their disapproval and compared her to Roseanne Barr, whose show ABC canceled following her racist tweets.
Conservative blogger Erick Erickson pointed out inequalities he sees between what liberals and conservatives can get away with saying.
"So ABC just fired Roseanne for her tweet. Will TBS fire Samatha Bee for her actual on-air monologue?," he questioned. "Seems to me that calling Ivanka Trump a 'feckless (expletive)' is just as bad as suggesting Valerie Jarrett is an ape."
He continued, "All the progressives in my timeline telling me the Roseanne situation and Samantha Bee situation are not comparable will, I’m sure, be fine when Trump supporters start calling Clinton, Warren, Pelosi, etc. the same as what Samantha Bee called Ivanka Trump."
NBC's Megyn Kelly also tweeted about Bee's comments.
"This is disgusting. How is this acceptable? And how are we expected to take any of these publications seriously if they gleefully repost something like this at the same time they (rightfully) condemn @therealroseanne? You know the saying Love is Love? Well Hate is Hate," she tweeted, sharing a story about Bee's comments.
Author Herman Cain also commented about canceling Bee's show.
"Hey @TBSNetwork, shall I assume the Samantha Bee cancellation news will come later today? No?" he tweeted. "You don't care that this poor man's Jon Stewart is completely horrible? Ok, then..."
Others agreed with Bee's comments.
"Ivanka Trump is a feckless (expletive). Thank you for your honesty, Samantha Bee," one user tweeted. "(Samantha Bee) is great at triggering conservative snowflakes."
"If you think Samantha Bee's vulgarity is equivalent to racism then you're either ignorant, maliciously dishonest, or a racist yourself," another said, defending Bee.
"Stop comparing it to what @TheRealRoseanne said. Roseanne used a racist term. Samantha did not," another said.
Bee also took aim at Roseanne Barr's tweet that suggested sleep drug Ambien caused her to make racist comments earlier this week.
Barr wrote in a since-deleted tweet Tuesday that "muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj." The "vj" stood for Valerie Jarrett, an Obama White House aide. This led to the cancellation of her hit ABC show Roseanne.
Sanofi, who makes Ambien, tweeted a response to Barr, who claimed she was "Ambien tweeting": "While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication."
Full Frontal decided to see what it would be like if racism was a side effect, however, by imagining a commercial for the drug that reassured "a great night sleep and a convenient excuse are just one little pill away."
The fake ad also warned that in addition to helping you fall asleep, the drug may make you "more racist."
"I mean, you were already racist, but maybe Ambien made it worse?" the narrator says. "Until you know how Ambien will effect you, you shouldn't drive in urban areas, operate heavy machinery or visit a Starbucks."
The narrator also read off a list of "extremely not rare side effects" that all had racial undertones including, "clutching your purse as a person of color walks by," "deciding to move 'up state'" and more.
