After airing a full report on Friday’s Good Morning America about the controversy swirling around left-wing Full Frontal host Samantha Bee over her vile attack on First Daughter Ivanka Trump, ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos and 10Ten Media’s Larry Hackett reacted to the story by blaming President Trump for creating an environment of incivility and wondering if Bee was already “out of the woods.”
“We’re hearing the words now ‘double standard,’ President Trump now weighing in as well,” Stephanopoulos noted, referring to the President calling out the fact that Bee’s TBS show had not been cancelled over her outrageous comments but Roseanne Barr’s ABC sitcom was ended over her offensive, racist remarks about former Obama aide Valerie Jarrett.
Hackett seemed frustrated by Trump’s accurate observation:
In this case, he already has won. He’s established the idea that there’s a double standard, he’s established the idea that what Roseanne said, which was racist and is – you know, was backing up 400 years of slavery and things like that, is the same as insulting somebody. He’s already won. I mean, whether they fire her or not, it doesn’t matter.
Stephanopoulos chimed in: “Yeah, but if you’re talking double standards, he didn’t – he condemned this comment about his daughter, rightfully, but he didn’t condemn the Roseanne comment.” Hackett replied:
Nor has he ever apologized for the things that he has said in the past. Which I would argue is one of the reasons that we’re in this place we’re in now. That there’s an attempt to create sort of outrage and shock that I think this White House has contributed to.
Moments later, Hackett continued to lay blame on the White House: “...of course, you have the administration and Trump who has said things that are inconceivable that another president would have said.” He even admitted that if this kind of insult had been hurled at the daughters of past presidents, there wouldn’t even be a question about Bee getting fired: “The idea that we’d be talking about whether or not a woman who used that slur on a television show, if she’d that about the Bush daughters or the Obamas, she would have been fired before dawn the next day. But I think the standards are shifting quickly around here.”
Despite GMA having just cover the controversy for the first time, Stephanopoulos asked if it had already blown over: “Is she out of the woods? Is it definite that the show won’t get canceled?” Hackett warned against cancelling the show: “I don’t know if it’s definite. It’s very, very difficult. If TBS were to fire her now, they would look like they were caving to the White House, number one. They don’t want to do that.”
He predicted that the media would soon move on: “I don’t think she’s out of the woods yet, but I think we all know how fast the culture moves, and by Saturday or Monday, there may be something else we’ll be talking about.”
At the end of exchange, co-host Robin Roberts jumped in to imply that Bee was a victim of sexism:
May I ask you something? Like, not defending at all what has taken place....When we talk about double standards, is it also a double standard when it comes to female and male comedians? Male comedians have been saying – not to the degree that Samantha Bee did – but they have taken to task and they don’t really fall under the scrutiny that these female comics – again, not defending anyone, I don’t get the humor. But is there a double standard there?
Hackett entertained the theory and even pointed other female comedians who have launched reprehensible attacks against the administration:
I think there’s something actually very interesting about it. If you look at what happened with the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, another female comic, there’s definitely a level to analyze here. Kathy Griffin, another female comic, right? All people who’ve been taken to task, apologized, been punished for often women attacking women, but always in these cases, as you point out, female comics. So, yeah, there’s a whole other level here that needs to be kind of looked at.
Perhaps they were all “taken to task” because all of them were wrong. It’s so hard for the liberal media to just admit that without making excuses for left-wing bomb throwers.
Reporting for Friday’s CBS This Morning, correspondent Vladimir Duthiers argued that the controversy over Bee was just a case of “whaaboutism.”
On Thursday, NBC reporter Jacob Soboroff tried to dismiss the uproar by saying that Bee was just “a comedian.”
Here is a transcript of the June 1 segment:
7:35 AM ET
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Let’s bring in our friend Larry Hackett, partner in 10Ten Media. We’re hearing the words now “double standard,” President Trump now weighing in as well. Just a few minutes ago he said, “Why aren’t they firing no talent Samantha Bee for the horrible language used on her low rating show? A total double standard but that’s O.K., we are Winning, and will be doing so for a long time to come!”
LARRY HACKETT: In this case, he already has won. He’s established the idea that there’s a double standard, he’s established the idea that what Roseanne said, which was racist and is – you know, was backing up 400 years of slavery and things like that, is the same as insulting somebody. He’s already won. I mean, whether they fire her or not, it doesn’t matter.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Yeah, but if you’re talking double standards, he didn’t – he condemned this comment about his daughter, rightfully, but he didn’t condemn the Roseanne comment.
HACKETT: Nor has he ever apologized for the things that he has said in the past. Which I would argue is one of the reasons that we’re in this place we’re in now. That there’s an attempt to create sort of outrage and shock that I think this White House has contributed to.
STEPHANOPOULOS: We’re seeing a real escalation here. People using more and more vile and vulgar language, but also the penalty is harsher and more immediate.
HACKETT: Well, you’re absolutely right, the door’s opening on the one level because of social media and more cable shows and the idea that you have to kind of like rise above the kind of chatter. At the same time, people are becoming, wisely, I think, and smartly, more sensitive to the idea that certain things you can’t say about certain people. So it’s kind of a contradiction in terms.
And then above that, of course, you have the administration and Trump who has said things that are inconceivable that another president would have said. The idea that we’d be talking about whether or not a woman who used that slur on a television show, if she’d that about the Bush daughters or the Obamas, she would have been fired before dawn the next day. But I think the standards are shifting quickly around here.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Is she out of the woods? Is it definite that the show won’t get canceled?
HACKETT: I don’t know if it’s definite. It’s very, very difficult. If TBS were to fire her now, they would look like they were caving to the White House, number one. They don’t want to do that. Number two, there’s the whole other issue with this lawsuit involving AT&T and the Justice Department. I don’t think she’s out of the woods yet, but I think we all know how fast the culture moves, and by Saturday or Monday, there may be something else we’ll be talking about.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Larry Hackett, thanks – go ahead, please.
ROBIN ROBERTS: May I ask you something? Like, not defending at all what has taken place, because it is, you know, beyond –
HACKETT: Without question.
ROBERTS: Without question. When we talk about double standards, is it also a double standard when it comes to female and male comedians? Male comedians have been saying – not to the degree that Samantha Bee did – but they have taken to task and they don’t really fall under the scrutiny that these female comics – again, not defending anyone, I don’t get the humor. But is there a double standard there?
HACKETT: I think there’s something actually very interesting about it. If you look at what happened with the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, another female comic, there’s definitely a level to analyze here. Kathy Griffin, another female comic, right? All people who’ve been taken to task, apologized, been punished for often women attacking women, but always in these cases, as you point out, female comics. So, yeah, there’s a whole other level here that needs to be kind of looked at.
STEPHANOPOULOS: A lot of controversy.
ROBERTS: Yeah, it is. Alright, thank you, gentlemen.
