Samantha Bee calls Ivanka a kциt

[Progressive Pessimist]

The worst thing Samantha Bee did was cause a "controversy" while the Roseanne fallout was still germinating. Now we're getting the false equivalencies between them. At worst all she is culpable of is poor timing, if anything.

Anyway, Samantha Bee doesn't deserve this. Unlike Roseanne Barr who was just being crude and mean-spirited, this had context. Bee was making a point in a segment about policy about how Ivanka is complicit in her father's actions, even as she plays coy. She is feckless! I don't know if I would call her "the c word" but it's such a generic, empty insult in spite of its harshness. It can refer to men too. I know that it is sometimes used that way in Anglo countries. So, the use of that word somehow reflecting negatively towards women; from one of the most prominent, proud feminist socio-political comics, is laughable. This is Michelle Wolf's "controversy" all over again. It's just the right-wing taking up an opportunity to project upon a comment and concern troll to try and justify their outrage, when any other time they wouldn't care. It changes the subject from having to defend someone on their team and becomes another one of their "what about" deflections. Maybe we who oppose Trump should be more conscious of when we are giving his supporters ammunition. But the burden should be on them to be consistent! It's cliche to say at this point, but Trump has said so much worse and has done/is doing so much worse! The same goes for those associated with him. Didn't Ted Nugent use the same insult against Hillary Clinton once? Where were his consequences? I know he doesn't have a show or anything but if Bee should be condemned, so should he. The "party of personal responsibility" doesn't seem to be too into that anymore (not that they ever were). Bee, meanwhile, apologized. She probably shouldn't have but whatever, at least she didn't blame anyone or anything else *cough Ambien *cough*. That really should be enough.

Anyway, it's a net positive for the right (as everything seems to be). They have a new piece to add to their counterargument repertoire, even if it is a dumb piece, and much of the rest of the media seemed to be jumping on their bandwagon. Hell, she lost sponsors over this. This truly is another egregious example of the false equivalencies that plague our politics in this country.

By the way, this shouldn't even be a top news story. There are many more important things going on that should be our priority to focus on, yet here we are. Hell, I'm guilty of it, I'm writing an overly long post about it now. I guess I'll leave it at that.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Did anyone else see her apology? I think she handled it pretty well. She admitted guilt without making excuses (she didn't blame Ambien), having a sense of humor about it, and maintaining her principles while she's at it. It didn't come off as desperate or phony. Check it out below if you want:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPAqgjqSDos

[Progressive Pessimist]

We're beyond this issue by now but I will say one last thing. If it is any consolation, Bee did not get away unscathed. She lost sponsors and is now probably going to be scrutinized further by TBS in future broadcasts. This was strike one. She'll clearly learn from this and try not to rock the boat too hard in the future.
The comparisons to Roseanne's show getting canceled don't seem to be fading either. ABC took a way bigger chance with green-lighting the reboot of Roseanne than TBS did with Full Frontal. Roseanne Barr had always wallowed in conspiracy theories and low effort crudeness, ABC essentially decided that her Valerie Jarrett tweet was the last straw. What Barr did potentially would have alienated more people than Bee's insult did  and ABC took that into account. I'm sure TBS did to with all of the Trump supporters it offended, but that demographic wasn't really going to be tuning in to Bee's show anyway. You may not like it, but it is fairly indicative of where the county is moving. In spite of our current President and his party trying to slow it down, progress always wins in the end and the reactions from institutions like cable networks occurring one way as opposed to another is further evidence of that.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Like I said, should've just called it acceptable in Britain and gone on her merry way.

Look at Michelle Wolf, she went for it remorselessly [far as I know], the far-right was hysterical for a minute...and then news moved on.

To be fair Samantha Bee apologized so she could keep her show, her viewers, her sponsors, etc. Michelle Wolf has a show on Netflix but that is not as much at the mercy of the cable ratings system, so she had the luxury to walk away without much comeuppance.