Samantha Bee Gives Fiery Apology for Calling Ivanka Trump the C-Word: 'Men Were Offended I Do Not Care'
Samantha Bee apologized for calling Ivanka Trump “feckless c–t” but also had a message to those who criticized her.
The comedian, 48, addressed the c-word controversy at the top of Wednesday’s episode of her TBS show Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.
“A lot of people were offended and angry that I used an epithet to describe the president’s daughter and advisor last week. It is a word I have used on the show many times, hoping to reclaim it. But this time I used it as an insult. I crossed the line. I regret it and I do apologize for it,” Bee said.
“The problem is that many women have heard that word at the worst moments of their lives, and 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,” she jokingly said, adding, “Many men were also offended by my use of the word, I do not care about that.”
Among the many who slammed Bee’s comment include White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and NBC’s Megyn Kelly.
“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’ve known that a potty mouth insult would be inherently more interesting 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,” Bee said on Wednesday.
Sam addresses the controversy from last week's show. pic.twitter.com/RtqBOhOCVf
— Full Frontal (@FullFrontalSamB) June 7, 2018
“And look if you are worried about the 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 am, I’m really sorry that I said that word, but you know what? Civility is just nice words. Maybe we should all worry a little bit more about the niceness of our actions,” she continued.
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Following her monologue, Bee also made light of the controversy with a sketch involving four new Full Frontal members.
“Sorry for breaking America? Listen I wanted to introduce to some exciting new additions to our show these are our mandatory censors who will be with us from now,” she said.
On May 31, Bee apologized for the comment in a statement through TBS: “I would like to sincerely apologize to Ivanka Trump and 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.”
As a result of Bee’s comment, companies, including Autotrader and State Farm, pulled their advertising dollars.
RELATED: Megyn Kelly Likens Samantha Bee Calling Ivanka Trump a ‘C—t’ to Roseanne Barr Fiasco: ‘Hate Is Hate’
A source familiar with the situation previously told PEOPLE that Ivanka was “more angry than hurt” over Bee’s remark, but the first daughter is doing her best to tune out the “negativity.”
“Ivanka tries to avoid reading or listening to negativity about herself or her family,” explained the New York-Palm Beach social source who knows the Trumps.
“It has been hurtful and was surprising to her at first. But now she is more resilient or even hardened to it and brushes off the comments by partisans who hate the administration,” the source added. “The Samantha Bee remark goes in that category.”
