President Donald Trump on Friday wondered why TBS has not fired late-night talk show host Samantha Bee for insulting Ivanka Trump, his daughter and a senior White House adviser.
"Why aren’t they firing no talent Samantha Bee for the horrible language used on her low ratings show?" the president said in an early morning tweet. "A total double standard but that’s O.K., we are Winning, and will be doing so for a long time to come!"
Bee, who hosts "Full Frontal," used a vulgar term to describe Ms. Trump in the opening monologue of her show Wednesday night while criticizing the White House aide for posting a photo with her son on Twitter this week while more than 10,000 migrant children have been separated from their parents as part of her father's immigration crackdown at the border.
"Ivanka Trump, who works at the White House, chose to post the second most oblivious tweet we've seen this week," Bee said.
She went on to urge Ms. Trump to "do something about your dad's immigration practices, you feckless c***."
The comment from Bee prompted widespread criticism, including from White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, who called the remark "vile and vicious." Sanders called on the network to discipline the host.
Bee apologized Thursday following the criticism, calling the remark "inexcusable."
"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," Bee tweeted on Thursday.
TBS, which airs the show, also issued an apology, saying, in part, "Those words should not have been aired. It was our mistake too, and we regret it."
Bee's insult was compared by some to comedian Roseanne Barr's racist comment aimed at former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett. Barr compared Jarrett, who is black, to an ape on Twitter, which led ABC to quickly cancel the revival of her hit sitcom, "Roseanne."
Trump, who had publicly praised Barr for supporting him and cheered her high ratings at a rally, and other members of his administration did not condemn Barr's racist remark. Instead, the president attacked ABC for not apologizing for perceived slights against him.
The president is himself no stranger to vulgar language, including lewd remarks about women. An "Access Hollywood" recording from 2005 and leaked during the 2016 campaign captured the reality television star describing in crude terms how he forcibly touched and kissed women in his orbit.
"You know, I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything," Trump said then.
"Grab ’em by the p****. You can do anything," Trump added.
He eventually issued a rare apology for the remarks.