As if on cue.
I’ll not go far into the Samantha Bee/Ivanka Trump scandal since I’ve done a lot to cover it today already. Suffice to say that Bee called Trump a “feckless c*nt,” and no one on the left seemed interested enough to hold her accountable for it.
Except for Chelsea Clinton, who I’m honestly proud of right now for keeping the rules the same across the political battlefield. Something that I was having a serious problem with, as everyone seemed to be justifying Bee’s comments because Roseanne Barr said something racist the other day.
It’s grossly inappropriate and just flat-out wrong to describe or talk about @IvankaTrump or any woman that way. https://t.co/g59EH9yDsF
— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) May 31, 2018
How someone completely unrelated saying something racist justifies saying something sexist to someone else is still beyond me, and no one is offering up a solid explanation.
In fact, Bee and TBS as a whole wasn’t offering up any kind of explanation either. That is, until the real threat of sponsors disappearing became a thing, as Autotrader demonstrated.
Thank you to those who reached out regarding our sponsorship of Full Frontal. 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.
— Autotrader (@AutoTrader_com) May 31, 2018
Suddenly, Bee and TBS couldn’t apologize fast enough.
“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. It was inappropriate and inexcusable. I crossed a line, and I deeply regret it,” Bee said in a statement according to CNN.
TBS, as well, threw in their apology alongside hers.
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.
— TBS Network (@TBSNetwork) May 31, 2018
And TBS should apologize. This wasn’t the same as Roseanne’s racist tweet, which was an individual moment of pure stupidity. This was written, approved, said on the show, and aired by the network.
Let me be clear. TBS approved the message that Ivanka Trump was a “feckless c*nt” who should engage in incestuous flirtation with her father in order to push a point on the Democratic agenda.
If I was a sponsor, I would be throwing my company’s figurative car into reverse, and slamming on the gas pedal as fast as it would take me. Autotrader made a smart move. Not only because it proved that their company has a sense of right and wrong, but also because it scared TBS and Bee into displaying a sense of propriety.
Rest assured, I don’t think anybody at TBS or the Full Frontal team actually feel sorry for what they said. Had it not been for Autotrader firing a warning shot across TBS’s bow — as well as any behind the scenes warnings from businesses we didn’t see — it wouldn’t have made anyone at the network budge.
But if Bee likes to go on long winded rants about the right’s racism or sexism, she’d do well to play by her own morality code. That she and TBS are being forced to is something wonderful to see.
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