Samantha Bee addresses Ivanka Trump insult in Television Academy Honors speech

Samantha Bee promotes Full Frontal
(Image credit: Charley Gallay/Getty Images for TBS/Turner)

Samantha Bee accepted a Television Academy Honors award Thursday night for Full Frontal's coverage of the Time's Up and #MeToo movements. And in her acceptance speech, Bee addressed the elephant in the room: her widely criticized use of the term "feckless c--t" to refer to Ivanka Trump on Wednesday night's show. Earlier Thursday, Bee apologized to Trump for her "inappropriate and inexcusable" comment, and TBS also issued a mea culpa: "Those words should not have been aired. It was our mistake too, and we regret it." White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders suggested TBS cancel the show.

"Every week I strive to show the world as I see it, unfiltered," Bee told the audience at NeueHouse in Hollywood, according to a copy of the speech obtained by IndieWire. "Sometimes I should probably have a filter. I accept that. I take it seriously when I get it right and I do take responsibility when I get it wrong." She explained the context for her slur — the treatment of immigrant children by President Trump and previous administrations — and lamented that "we spent the day wrestling with the repercussions of one bad word, when we all should have spent the day incensed that as a nation we are wrenching children from their parents and treating people legally seeking asylum as criminals."

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.