President urges TBS to fire Bee
“Full Frontal” host Samantha Bee is still facing repercussions after using what her network called an “inappropriate and inexcusable” profanity to describe White House adviser Ivanka Trump.
The backlash prompted President Donald Trump to weigh in Friday.
Despite Bee issuing a public apology for calling his daughter the C-word, the president Friday called on TBS to fire the latenight host “for the horrible language used on her low ratings show.”
Trump framed his argument around the backlash Roseanne Barr faced this week, describing the situation as “a total double standard.”
Thursday night, Bee received an award from the Television Academy for her show’s coverage of the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements.
“Our show is steeped in passion,” Bee said. “Every week I strive to show the world as I see it, unfiltered. 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.”
Discussing her segment about missing migrant children — the one that bore the Trump profanity — Bee said the piece “attracted controversy of the worst kind.”
“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,” she added.
The host said she is committed to “shouting (about) the inhumanities of this world from the rooftops and striving to make it a better place. But in a comedy way.”
TBS stood by Bee’s apology and declined to comment on calls for cancellation.
At least two advertisers — Autotrader and State Farm — suspended their sponsorship of the show.