OPINION:
Brooke Baldwin, an anchor for CNN, weighed in on the controversy surrounding comedian Samantha Bee’s calling of Ivanka Trump a “feckless c—t” by slamming — get this — Bee. And then she slammed the vile, vulgar and vicious Keith Olbermann. And the left, for hypocrisy.
It was a stunning slap-down, in and of itself. But it was all the more eye-opening given Baldwin’s affiliation with mainstream media.
You know the left has gone off its rocker when even one of its own can’t stomach what’s going on within its ranks.
And what’s going on is this: Bee made national headlines when she reacted to a photo the famous first daughter posted of herself with her own child by calling for her, “one mother to another,” to “do something about your dad’s immigration practices, you feckless c—t.”
Bee went on: “He listens to you. Put on something tight and low-cut and tell your father to f—ing stop it.”
Conservatives around the nation, all those of sane mind — rightly — called for Bee to apologize. President Trump, in a tweet, suggested she deserved to be fired.
But the left? Initially, yawns and giggles — but not from Baldwin.
She opened a recent CNN segment with a video cut of Olbermann, another Trump-hater who’s recently been rehired by ESPN, spewing mocking rants against the president.
“In addition to telling the president to go to hell,” Baldwin said, the Blaze noted, “[Olbermann] has also spewed the following to describe Trump and his family — cowardly f-word, a mother-effer, a Nazi, a stupid traitor, a rat-faced git, that [he’s] an unpleasant and contemptible person, and often tells the president to go eff himself. By the way, these are all recent comments.”
Despite, Olbermann “just got another plum job … ironically, at the same company that just booted Roseanne for violating its values,” Baldwin went on.
Good point.
But she was just warming. On Bee’s nastiness, Baldwin spoke volumes.
“OK, a couple of things,” Baldwin said. “Imagine for a second how liberals would have reacted if Roseanne or a conservative TV star had used that language describing Valerie Jarrett. Whether you agree with the president’s policies or not, calling a senior adviser inside the United States government or anyone, for that matter, the c-word is … outrageous, it is unacceptable and should be called out.”
And for Bee to then hunker down in defense mode and shrug off the criticisms by saying she’s simply a comedian and, therefore, deserving of a free pass?
Hogwash, Baldwin said.
“She’s Samantha Bee, she’s in this position of leadership, not to mention a role model to millions of young girls and to women,” Baldwin said. “To use that word, from a woman to another woman, offensive is offensive, wrong is wrong. … And what Samantha Bee said is not only beneath her. It is beneath where we should be as a society.”
Agreed. Completely.
And apparently, so does Bee.
In a tweet, she wrote: “I would like to sincerely apologize to Ivanka Trump and to my viewers for using an expletive on my show to describe her … It was inappropriate and inexcusable. I crossed a line, and I deeply regret it.”
About time, Ms. Bee. About time. Now about that Olbermann …
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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