Samantha Bee

During her “Full Frontal” micro-segment on May 30, 2018, Samantha Bee spoke out in response to the controversy surrounding the Trump administration's immigration policy of taking children away from their parents. Ivanka, Donald Trump's daughter, had recently posted a photo of herself and her son.

Bee responded to the post by saying, "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 c*nt! He listens to you! Put on something tight and low-cut and tell your father to fucking stop it!"

Following Bee's segment on “Full Frontal,” many viewers expressed shock and outrage over her words. Due to the fact that shows are pre-recorded, many assumed TBS condoned Samantha Bee's statement and even supported it. In response to this belief, the hashtag #BoycottTBS began trending on Twitter shortly after the airing of Samantha Bee's show, along with #FireSamanthaBee.

Former President Donald J. Trump also tweeted, asking, "Why aren’t they firing no-talent Samantha Bee for the horrible language used on her low-ratings show? A total double standard, but that’s O.K., we are winning, and will be doing so for a long time to come!” 

TBS was not the only company impacted by Bee's words. Discover also received backlash, seeing a new hashtag #BoycottDiscover showing up because of their ad space during the showing of “Full Frontal.”

Following the backlash caused by Bee's statement on “Full Frontal,” some advertisers pulled their support or suspended their sponsorship of her program.

State Farm said in a statement to “The Wrap,” “We have asked TBS to suspend our advertising in the program and are reviewing any future placements. We constantly review programs to ensure alignment to our programming guidelines and brand values.”

Autotrader also announced on Twitter that they had suspended their sponsorship of “Full Frontal.” Their Twitter post said, "The comments expressed by Samantha Bee were offensive and unacceptable and do not reflect the views of our company."

Not all advertisers decided to leave. Discover stated, "As a national brand, our ads run on national broadcast, cable, digital, social, outdoor media, and just about everywhere in-between. Our media buys consistently change and reflect the diverse content and audiences we serve. Editorial direction and content are created by the individual program.”

As a way of renouncing complicity themselves, Discover tweeted that the ad that ran during Bee’s program was part of a 15-second "national ad buy on TBS and was not targeted to a specific show."

On May 31, 2018, the day after her episode aired, Bee took to Twitter to apologize as the world responded to her use of a word deemed inappropriate. She said, "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."

TBS also followed up with a statement shortly after Bee's tweet. They said, "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.”

When viewers of the segment began to compare Bee's words to the cancellation of Rosanne Barr, who was fired by ABC for making racist comments, many came to Bee’s defense.

Journalist Kris M. Wernowsky said, "Not to quibble with morons, but the government telling a cable network to cancel a television show because of something Samantha Bee said, THAT, is the definition of censorship. A network caving to public pressure to fire Roseanne is not. There's a difference." This tweet has since been deleted, but is quoted by TheCut.com.

Dahlia Balcazar, a writer, editor, and podcaster, tweeted, "Samantha Bee hates Ivanka Trump. // Roseanne Barr hates Black people. // See the difference?"

Guitarist for the band Beartooth, Taylor Lumley, said, "Listen, Samantha Bee calling Ivanka Trump a Cunt is not comparable to Roseanne Barr referring to a black woman as a child of the Muslim Brotherhood & Planet of the Apes. // One is vulgar, the other is flat out racist. So just cut the fucking bullshit already." This tweet has also since been deleted, but is quoted by TheCut.com.

Megyn Kelly, host of “The Megyn Kelly Show,” tweeted, "And how are we expected to take any of these publications seriously if they gleefully repost something like this at the same time they (rightfully) condemn @therealroseanne? You know the saying Love is Love? Well Hate is Hate."

Comedian and host of “The Daily Show” Trevor Noah told The Los Angeles Times, “What was interesting to me was how people conflated issues and ideas. They went, ‘Oh, Roseanne was the same as Sam Bee. I was like, ‘Look, man, one white woman calling another white woman a word is not the same as a white person calling a black person an ape. We’re dealing with different issues here.’”

Many Twitter users sought to defend Bee's statements on “Full Frontal,” both in regards to her choice of words as well as to whom she was condemning.

Celebrities got involved and announced their support of Bee's statement. Comedian, producer, and television host Jon Stewart was quoted in The Daily Beast saying,

“Please understand that a lot of what the right does, and it’s maybe their greatest genius, is they’ve created a code of conduct that they police, that they themselves don’t have to, in any way, abide.”

Stewart also said there’s nothing people can do to “make them give up this ‘We’re the real victims’ game,” referring to the political right in the US. “It’s a game, it’s a strategy, and it’s working.”

Actress and director Sally Field tweeted, "I like Samantha Bee a lot, but she is flat wrong to call Ivanka a cunt. // Cunts are powerful, beautiful, nurturing and honest."

Shortly following the airing of Bee's “Full Frontal” segment, those offended by her words began calling for her to be fired. The White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued a statement, saying, "[Bee’s] disgusting comments and show are not fit for broadcast, and executives at Time Warner and TBS must demonstrate that such explicit profanity about female members of this administration will not be condoned on its network."

The following week, during her June 6 show, Bee took a moment to apologize again. In the 1:57 clip also posted to the  “Full Frontal” YouTube channel, Bee said,

“You know, a lot of people were offended and angry that I used an epithet to describe the president’s daughter and adviser last week. 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.

The problem is that many women have heard that word at the worst moments of their lives. A lot of them don’t want that word reclaimed. They want it gone. And I don’t blame them. 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. I hate that this distracted from more important issues. 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 them 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. 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 little bit more about the niceness of our actions. Okay. Thank you for listening.”