Jon Stewart Defends Samantha Bee, Says Outrage Part of a Right-Wing "Game"

The former 'Daily Show' host said that the indignation over the issue was all part of a "strategy" conservatives use and it was "working."

Full Frontal host Samantha Bee has felt the full force of a conservative backlash after using a vulgar epithet to describe Ivanka Trump, but the comedian still has her defenders and got some welcome support from former boss Jon Stewart, a veteran of Republican animus, at Sunday's Clusterfest comedy festival in San Francisco.

According to a report in The Daily Beast, Stewart was asked about the Bee controversy during a Q&A session. The former Daily Show host took exception to White House tactics to get the TBS show canceled, arguing that it was all part of a "game" that the political right in the U.S. play. "They don't give a shit about the word 'c—,'" the Daily Beast quoted Stewart saying, alluding to the Trump administration.

Stewart also joked that Donald Trump, famed for his use of vulgar language in private, probably used the c-word instead of "please."

Bee, a former Daily Show correspondent, got into hot water last week after she lambasted Ivanka Trump for posting a picture on social media that showed the First Daughter holding her child. Bee called the picture tone-deaf given the growing scandal involving missing immigrant children and described Ivanka Trump as a "feckless c—." After a heated backlash, Bee apologized for her comments.

Conservatives have been up in arms over Bee, with some trying to make the equivalence with the firing of Roseanne Barr from her revived sitcom for racist tweets and calling out a supposed media double standard. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called Bee's comments "vile and vicious" and Full Frontal "not fit for broadcast." President Trump also tweeted that "no talent" Bee should be fired.

Stewart wasn't buying the outrage from the right, implying that Bee shouldn't have apologized, and he suggested it was all calculated and part of the "'we're the real victims' game" conservatives play. "It's a game, it's a strategy and it's working," he said.