Late-night host Samantha Bee has already extended an apology for calling Ivanka Trump a “feckless cunt” during a Full Frontal segment about 1,500 potentially missing migrant children last week. Pundits weighed in, Twitter blew up and sponsors State Farm and Autotrader.com pulled their advertisements from the TBS late-night show. But all that happened in under a week, so now Bee must address it all again on tonight’s new episode of her show.
“It is a word I have used on the show many times, hoping to reclaim it. This time, I used it as an insult. I crossed the line. I regret it, and I do apologize for that,” Bee said tonight. “The problem is, a lot of women have heard that word at the worst time in their lives. A lot of them don’t want it reclaimed. I don’t blame them. I don’t want to inflict more pain on them.”
The White House publicly condemned Bee’s “vile and vicious” wording last week, and TBS also issued a statement saying the insult “should not have been aired.” On Wednesday night, Bee expressed her dismay that the controversy distracted the news cycle “from more important issues.” Said the late-night host, “I should have known that a potty-mouth insult would be inherently more interesting to them than juvenile immigration policy.” Joked Bee, “I want this show to be challenging and to be honest, but I never intended it to hurt anyone. Except Ted Cruz.”
