Samantha Bee is still dealing with the fallout from her vulgar remarks about Ivanka Trump. The Full Frontal With Samantha Bee host spoke about the controversy at an event on Thursday, May 31, as two advertisers dropped her TBS late-night show.
“Every week I strive to show the world as I see it, unfiltered,” Bee, 48, told the audience at the Television Academy Honors in Hollywood, via IndieWire. “Sometimes I should probably have a filter. I accept that. I take it seriously when I get it right and I do take responsibility when I get it wrong.”
The comedian explained that she called the first daughter, 36, a “feckless c–t” on the Wednesday, May 30, episode of Full Frontal because she was angry about “the atrocious treatment of migrant children” by President Donald Trump’s administration “and past administrations.”
“Our piece attracted controversy of the worst kind,” she said while accepting an award at Thursday’s awards ceremony for her show’s coverage of the Time’s Up and #MeToo movements. “We spent the day wrestling with the repercussions of one bad word, when we all should have spent the day incensed that as a nation we are wrenching children from their parents and treating people legally seeking asylum as criminals. If we are OK with that then really, who are we?”
Despite the backlash Bee faced this week, she vowed to stand by Full Frontal. “As long as we have breath in our bodies and 21 minutes of airtime once a week, repeats on Saturdays, that we as a show will never stop shouting [about] the inhumanities of this world from the rooftops and striving to make it a better place,” she said. “But in a comedy way.”
IndieWire noted that the former Daily Show With Jon Stewart correspondent opted not to walk the red carpet at the Television Academy Honors. Earlier in the day, Autotrader announced in a statement on Twitter that it had “suspended our sponsorship” of Full Frontal in light of Bee’s “offensive and unacceptable” comments about Ivanka. State Farm followed suit, telling CNN it had “asked TBS to suspend our advertising in the program” and would review “any future placements.”
Bee apologized via Twitter on Thursday afternoon for calling the businesswoman the slur. “It was inappropriate and inexcusable,” she wrote. “I crossed a line, and I deeply regret it.”
The White House was quick to condemn the comic for her words. Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement to Us Weekly that Bee’s language was “vile and vicious.” First lady Melania Trump’s press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, added, “The double standard is truly astounding. 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.”
The president, 71, also spoke out, tweeting early Friday, June 1, “Why aren’t they 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!”
