Samantha Bee Loses First Sponsors After On-Air Attack of Ivanka Trump
One day after late-night comedian Samantha Bee used a vulgar slur to address Ivanka Trump, two companies have announced they are pulling their sponsorship from Bee’s program on TBS.
Autotrader and State Farm announced Thursday their respective decisions to stop advertising on “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.”
“The comments expressed by Samantha Bee were offensive and unacceptable and do not reflect the views of our company,” Autotrader announced via Twitter. “As a result, we have suspended our sponsorship of ‘Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.’”
Thank you to those who reached out regarding our sponsorship of Full Frontal. The comments expressed by Samantha Bee were offensive and unacceptable and do not reflect the views of our company. As a result, we have suspended our sponsorship of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.
— Autotrader (@AutoTrader_com) May 31, 2018
State Farm pulled its ads just a few hours later, saying in a statement to TheWrap, “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.”
The controversy was sparked by a segment on Bee’s program Wednesday night dealing with immigration. Bee showed a picture Trump had posted on social media of her holding her son. Bee called Trump “oblivious” for posting the photo in light of recent stories about illegal immigrants being separated from their children at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Ivanka Trump, who works at the White House, chose to post the second most oblivious tweet we’ve seen this week,” Bee said. “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—.”
Taking the insult further, Bee suggested that because President Donald Trump has said that he listens to the advice he receives from his daughter, Ivanka Trumpa should wear suggestive clothing in order to get her father’s attention.
“Put on something tight and low-cut and tell your father to f—ing stop it,” Bee said.” Tell him it was an Obama thing and see how it goes, OK?”
Early Thursday afternoon, Bee went on Twitter to apologize for her remark.
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.
— Samantha Bee (@iamsambee) May 31, 2018
“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 said in a statement.
TBS also issued an apology, saying “those words should not have been aired. It was our mistake too, and we regret it.”
Despite the decisions by Autotrader and State Farm, one company — Discover — announced Thursday it had no plans to pull its ads from Bee’s program.
“As a national brand, our ads run on national broadcast, cable, digital, social, outdoor media, and just about everywhere in-between,” Discover said in a statement on Twitter Thursday. “Our media buys consistently change and reflect the diverse content and audiences we serve. Editorial direction and content are created by the individual program.”
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