At a comedy event over the weekend, Samantha Bee’s former boss, Jon Stewart, addressed the controversy that put his former correspondent in the crosshairs of critics last week.
“They don’t give a s*** about the word ‘c***,’” he said, referring to the Trump administration and the vulgar remark that landed Bee in hot water. “That is probably – he says that instead of ‘please,’ I’m guessing.”
Stewart’s remarks were reported by The Daily Beast, who attended Stewart’s appearance at the Clusterfest comedy festival in San Francisco over the weekend.
CNN has contacted a representative of Stewart for comment.
Bee last week drew wide criticism for calling White House senior adviser and first daughter Ivanka Trump a “feckless c***” on her TBS show. (TBS, like CNN, is owned by Turner, a subsidiary of Time Warner.)
The White House called Bee’s comment “vile and vicious.”
Bee apologized on Thursday, saying her comment was “inappropriate and inexcusable.”
“I crossed a line, and I deeply regret it,” Bee said in a statement.
According to The Daily Beast, Stewart seemed “to imply that Bee shouldn’t have apologized.”
“Please understand that a lot of what the right does, and it’s maybe their greatest genius, is they’ve created a code of conduct that they police, that they themselves don’t have to, in any way, abide,” Stewart said.
Bee is expected to record a new episode of her talk show on Wednesday, as previously planned.
Sources tell CNN Bee will issue “an in-depth response” to the controversy in that episode.
