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This Video Of Samantha Bee's Ivanka Apology Is NOT Sorry To Men Who Were "Offended"
Full Frontal's host returned Wednesday night for the first time since calling the first daughter a c*nt on TV — and in true form, she faced her critics head-on. This latest video of Samantha Bee's Ivanka Trump apology makes it clear that her apology doesn't extend to everyone.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Bee said of her insult, "I crossed the line. I regret it and I do apologize for it." She continued, "The problem is, a lot of women have heard that word at the worst time in their lives, and don't want it reclaimed. I don't want to inflict more pain on them. I want this show to be challenging and to be honest."
She went on to explain that she never meant to hurt anyone "except Ted Cruz," clarifying that she was less concerned about offending some men and more concerned that her comments might have distracted people from more important news.
"I hate that I did something to contribute to the nightmare of 24 hours news cycles that we're all white knuckling through," Bee said, then cautioned her viewers, "If you are worried about the death of civility, don't sweat it. I'm a comedian ... but you know what? Civility is just nice words. Maybe we should worry a little more about the niceness of our actions."
Though Bee has been a longstanding critic of the Trump administration as a whole, the conflict came to a head on May 31. The insult in question happened after Trump posted a photo of herself with her son over Memorial Day weekend, a seemingly innocent social media post that many critics soon argued was incredibly tone-deaf. That's because it was posted amid recent reports that the U.S. government had lost track of 1,500 undocumented children, as well as controversy over the Trump administration's decisions to separate kids from their parents at the border.
“You know, Ivanka, that’s a beautiful photo of you and your child," Bee said, on air, "but let me just say, one mother to another, do something about your dad’s immigration practices, you feckless c*nt."
The retaliation against Bee was swift, with the White House condemning her statement, calling Bee's words "vile and vicious," and demanding that both TBS and Time Warner "demonstrate that such explicit profanity about female members of this administration will not be condoned."
Others were less critical of Bee, given President Trump's own history of profanity, both prior to and during his time in the oval office. BuzzFeed even went so far as to make a list of some of the profane things Trump has said.
Prior to Bee's speech, she made two rounds of public comments regarding the situation. Her first response was conciliatory, as she admitted immediately following the show that her words were "inappropriate and inexcusable," according to CNN.
However, in her second official response, Bee took a slightly less apologetic approach, pointing out another form of hypocrisy within the conflict: that people were becoming more outraged over her insult of Trump than of the policy that separates children from her parents.
According to Indiewire, Bee made the speech while accepting a Television Academy Honors award later that day on May 31. Bee said,
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?
In the wake of her recent comments, The Hill reported that TBS will be tightening down on Bee's show, increasing network oversight on what previously was understood to be "full creative license" for her. In other words, the host might have to think more about how she insults much of the Trump family.