It’s hard to believe it’s been only a week since
Samantha Bee drew ire by calling
Ivanka Trump a “feckless cunt” on
Full Frontal. The comedian has
already publicly apologized
twice for her comment; the president has tweeted about it; comedians including
Kathy Griffin and
Jon Stewart have
risen to Bee’s defense . And Wednesday night, during her first broadcast since the controversy exploded, Bee apologized one last time—but this time, with a catch.
“A lot of people were offended and angry that I used an epithet to describe the president’s daughter and adviser last week,” Bee said on Wednesday’s Full Frontal. “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.”
A lot of women, Bee noted, have no interest in the word “cunt” being reclaimed, but instead would like it to simply disappear. “I don’t blame them,” Bee said. “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 . Many men were also offended by my use of the word; I do not care about that.”
Bee used the word during a segment last week about migrant children being separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. As discussion surrounding the topic peaked, Bee noted that Trump had posted a photo of herself with her own child—a tone-deaf move at best. “You know, Ivanka, that’s a beautiful photo of you and your child, but let me just say, one mother to another,” Bee said last Wednesday. “Do something about your dad’s immigration practices, you feckless cunt! He listens to you! Put on something tight and low-cut and tell your father to fucking stop it.”
The next morning, backlash exploded almost immediately, as conservative pundits compared Bee’s outburst to the racist tweet that got Roseanne Barr fired from ABC. Cable-news outlets on both sides clutched their pearls over Bee’s use of the word, while comedians like Stewart asserted that this outrage cycle was a cynical tool: the right, he said, “has created a code of conduct that they police, that they themselves don’t have to, in any way, abide.”
“I hate that this distracted from more important issues,” Bee said during her apology Wednesday night. “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 have known that a potty-mouthed insult would be inherently more interesting to [the media] 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.
“And look, if you are worried about the death of civility, don’t sweat it,” Bee concluded. “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.”
COURTESY:www.vanityfair.com
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