After ABC (and countless syndicators) pulled the plug on confirmed racist and Ambien-blamer Roseanne Barr’s namesake sitcom this week, it didn’t take long for the right to start shrieking “double standard!” and complaining about famous faces on the left getting away with worse.
In the beginning, the Red Hats called for the firing of HBO’s Bill Maher, and everyone laughed because honestly, they can have him.
After a mild diversion to Keith Olbermann that also didn’t gain any traction, the folks in What About World are now coming for Samantha Bee (again) after her opening monologue on Wednesday night’s Full Frontal.
The segment tackles the perils faced by migrants attempting to enter these United States—children in particular.
It’s a great segment, unsurprisingly, since Bee and her squad of writers are damned good at their jobs, but it’s the final minute that’s making those on the right—and some on the left— Very, Very Upset.
Why? Because Bee asks orders presidential adviser and First Daughter Ivanka Trump to talk to her dad about his heinous immigration policies, and she isn’t polite about it. At all.
“Ivanka Trump, who works at the White House, chose to post the second most oblivious tweet we’ve seen this week,” Bee said.
Bee wasn’t done: “You know, Ivanka, that’s a beautiful photo of you and your child, but let me just say, one mother to another, do something about your dad’s immigration practices, you feckless cunt!”
Bee kept going: “He listens to you,” Bee said. “Put on something tight and low-cut and tell your father to fucking stop it. Tell him it was an Obama thing and see how it goes, okay?”
The response, predictably, was rapid and divided … and hilarious, if you look in the right places.
The Roseanne comparisons were, of course, inevitable and rampant.
Let’s focus on those who pushed back against the WhatAboutism.
The false equivalency folk even brought hypothetical attacks against the Obama kids into the mix, because hey, if when the right can’t find a leg to stand on, they just imagine one.
Yet, in a perfect example of bipartisan protection of pretty blonde women, the worst of the left is now piping up to condemn Bee and (sort of) defend Ivanka.
Samantha Bee and TBS initially declined to acknowledge or comment on the episode nor the calls for the comedian’s firing, though Full Frontal advertiser AutoTrader was quick to pull their ads.
In the face of attacks from the White House and her show’s bottom line, Samantha Bee did eventually issue an apology, and TBS pulled the video.
“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,” Samantha Bee has just said in a statement.
“It was inappropriate and inexcusable. I crossed a line, and I deeply regret it.”
Predictably, not everyone is happy about it.