Trump to TBS: Fire low-ratings Samantha Bee or admit the media’s obvious double standard

They won’t do either, of course, but by not doing the former they really do admit the latter whether they want to or not. I doubt TBS will bother responding directly to the president, because what can they say? He’s got them dead to rights. If Bee can survive whereas Roseanne could not, the only possible explanation is that liberals have license conservatives do not. Or to put it another way, a show with a conservative bent is on probation from the word go, and even the slightest excuse to can it will bring about immediate cancellation. A liberal show is doing the work of the angels, so while the networks prefer to be spared any embarrassment like the one Bee foisted on them yesterday, they’re not going to fire her.

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She’s on the team. And since it’s the call-out culture that permits Samantha Bee to get away with what she did, Trump might as well play by the same rules:

His comments came days after Walt Disney Co’s ABC network canceled the popular U.S. television comedy “Roseanne” after its star Roseanne Barr tweeted a racist remark comparing a former top Obama administration official to an ape. On Wednesday, Bee called Ivanka Trump a crude reference for the female anatomy on her show “Full Frontal” while discussing the president’s controversial immigration policies. Bee apologized on Thursday. The TBS cable network, which airs the program, also issued an apology. “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 on Twitter. Fortune magazine reported that two companies, Autotrader and State Farm, have pulled their commercials from the show. “Why aren’t they firing no talent Samantha Bee for the horrible language used on her low ratings show? A total double standard but that’s O.K., we are Winning, and will be doing so for a long time to come!” Trump, a former reality television star, tweeted on Friday morning.

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The only possible defense of TBS letting Bee keep her show would be to publicly acknowledge it goes by the following standard: Some people (minorities, former Obama officials, etc.) are protected from vile disgusting attacks, while others (basically anyone the left doesn’t like, especially if they have the last name Trump) can be the target of as vulgar and horrendous a verbal assault as you can muster. By the way, keep this in mind: Full Frontal does not air live. Network censors could have bleeped out the word. Not only did they choose not to do so, but they gleefully released the video of the segment onto social media within hours – also without the word bleeped out. TBS had not objection at all to what Samantha Bee said, until they realized they’d miscalculated and they were going to catch heat for it. They’re still not going to fire her, though. Because the rules aren’t the same for everyone.

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