Bachmann Disappointed NBC’s Fallon Apology Came from VP and Not President of Network

As NewsBusters reported Thursday, NBC apologized to Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) for the offensive song that was played as she walked onto the stage to be a guest on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Monday.

Unfortunately, as Bachmann told radio’s Steve Malzberg guest-hosting for Jeff Bolton on KLIF in Texas Friday, that apology came from a vice president of programming and not NBC’s president (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

CONGRESSWOMAN MICHELE BACHMANN (R-MINNESOTA): We just had it Fedexed to my home this morning. The event happened on Monday night. We just received the Fedex copy this morning. You know, my response was that no matter if you’re a liberal or a conservative woman this shouldn’t be tolerated. It’s demeaning. But of course there’s been a double standard for a long time. It’s an outrage if it happens to a liberal, and usually it’s passed off if it happens to a conservative. Of course, I accept the apology, but my guess it would have been the president of NBC that would have been apologizing not a senior vice president of programming.

As the Associated Press reported Thursday, the apology came from Doug Vaughan, NBC's vice president for late night programming.

Bachmann also commented to Malzberg about claims made by Fallon’s bandleader concerning the incident:

BACHMANN: The thing that was disingenuous is that the band was, the comment from the band is that it was a spontaneous act. Clearly it wasn’t. It was premeditated. He had tweeted twice before the show what his intentions were. And his Twitter account is 1.7 million people. So, it’s just, again, it comes down to the fact that if a Don Imus or someone does something that’s questionable, they’re thrown off the air. But when something is done to a conservative, it’s just passed off and forgotten. And I think that that’s really the difference. I’m a serious candidate for the presidency of the United States, but I’m a conservative Republican woman. That’s the double standard.

Bachmann then responded to Whoopi Goldberg for calling her a “bonehead” on Tuesday’s The View:

BACHMANN: I think this is the same pattern of what we saw happen on NBC. I’m a self-made person. I came from below poverty. I worked my way through college, through law school, through a post-doctorate program in federal tax law. I worked for years as a federal tax court attorney. I created my own business. It’s a profitable company, and I employ scores of people. I have raised 23 foster children in addition to my own biological five children. And I’ve started together with my husband and some other parents the first K-12 charter school in the United States of America. I served in the Minnesota state senate. I served as a member of the United States Congress, and now I’m running for the presidency of the United States.

I think those comments that came from Whoopi Goldberg are demeaning to a serious candidate running for the presidency on the Republican ticket, as a woman, the first serious female candidate who’s gotten this far. And I’m the only candidate that’s won an election in this presidential race statewide which is the Iowa Straw Poll. So I think again this is another example of the Hollywood elite bias coming from Whoopi Goldberg. I think it’s clearly unacceptable. Again, I think if she would have said that about Michele Obama, I think there would be very serious consequences from the network. But apparently, because of the conservative woman, they can get away with it.

Indeed they can.