Kathy Griffin advised fellow comedian Samantha Bee Thursday not to apologize for her obscene insult in which the TBS late-night house called White House adviser Ivanka Trump a “Cunt.”
Bee found herself the subject of intense criticism and advertiser pullouts after she referred to the president’s daughter as a “feckless cunt” on her Wednesday Full Frontal show.
Bee evidently did not put much stock in Griffin’s advice, apologizing for “cross[ing] a line” and calling her conduct “inappropriate and inexcusable” Thursday. Bee, in turn, received what appears to be a full acceptance of that apology from her network, TBS.
Voices from the political Right, including First Lady Melania Trump saw the handling of Bee’s offensive remark, the latest in a long line of vicious attacks on women associated with President Donald Trump, as part of widespread double-standard in the media. Left-leaning figures, according to this view, are seldom subjected to the outrage and ruin directed at conservatives who make inappropriate comments.
Griffin’s unsolicited advice for Bee came amid a slew of tweets questioning if the outrage over Bee’s insult was genuine. The day before, she launched in a 52-tweet defense of her own decision to pose for a photo shoot holding a bloody effigy of a decapitated President Trump last year. Griffin made the same claims about the outrage over these photos last year, calling it “complete BS.”
The photos cost Griffin her jobs with networks like CNN. Griffin did apologize for her conduct, but later retracted that apology, letting loose a new obscene insult aimed at the president.
Griffin doubled down on her stance, calling White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders a “hack” and claiming her characterization of Bee’s remarks as “disgusting” raised First Amendment concerns:
Griffin also took the opportunity to promote her upcoming comedy tour by assuring fans the fallout from Bee’s insult and Roseanne Barr, who was promptly fired over an offensive tweet this week, will feature in her material: