Samantha Bee apologized this week on her show Full Frontal for using a crude word to describe President Donald Trump’s daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump on last week’s episode, admitting that she “crossed the line.”
The late show comedy host drew backlash after describing Ivanka as a “feckless c—t” in a segment about a Trump administration immigration policy allowing families caught illegally crossing the U.S. border to be separated. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called the comment “vile and vicious,” while others stood up for Bee, including her former Daily Show boss Jon Stewart.
Bee addressed the controversy Wednesday night and apologized for using the controversial phrase. “It is a word I have used on the show many times, hoping to reclaim it,” Bee said. “This time, I used it as an insult. I crossed the line, I regret it, and I do apologize for that.”
Bee had previously apologized on Twitter last week, calling the remark “inappropriate and inexcusable.”
But she dismissed the idea that her remarks represented the “death of civility” in public debate. “Civility is just nice words,” Bee said. “Maybe we should all worry a little more about the niceness of our actions.”
Watch Bee’s full comments below:
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Write to Eli Meixler at eli.meixler@time.com