TBS has backed Samantha Bee after her apology to Ivanka Trump, issuing its own mea culpa for letting the “feckless c—” insult make it to air.
“Samantha Bee has taken the right action in apologizing for the vile and inappropriate language she used about Ivanka Trump last night,” the network said in a statement. “Those words should not have been aired. It was our mistake too, and we regret it.”
Bee has faced mounting criticism for a joke on Wednesday night’s episode of “Full Frontal,” in which she took aim at the president’s daughter for her failure to stop her father’s immigration policies.
“Let me just say, one mother to another, do something about your dad’s immigration practices you feckless c-t!” said Bee. “He listens to you. Put on something tight and low cut and tell your father to f–ing stop it. Tell him it was an Obama thing and see how it goes.”
After considerable backlash for the insult, including the loss of at least one sponsor, Bee apologized to Trump in a statement on Thursday.
“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,” she said. “It was inappropriate and inexcusable. I crossed a line, and I deeply regret it.”
The remarks from Bee came just one day after ABC canceled “Roseanne” in response to an offensive tweet from star Roseanne Barr. The show was axed by the Disney-owned network despite her decision to delete the tweet and offer a swift apology.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders was among those calling on TBS and parent company Time Warner to take similar action against Bee over her own joke, calling the language used “vile and vicious.”
“Her 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,” Sanders said in a statement.