Samantha Bee’s First Show After Controversy Sees Big Dropoff In National Advertisers

A week after comedian Samantha Bee drew widespread outrage and calls from conservatives (and the White House) for her firing over her “feckless cunt” remarks, the Full Frontal host saw far fewer national advertisers run commercials during her show.

Compared to last week’s program when Bee lashed out at White House senior advisor and presidential daughter Ivanka Trump by using the c-word during a monologue about immigration policy, Full Frontal ran only a third of the number of national advertisements. Many of the commercials aired during this week’s show, which began with an on-air apology, were promos for Turner programs like Conan and Joker’s Wild.

Among the non-network promo ads that were aired were movie spots for upcoming summer flicks Ocean’s 8 and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, as well as ads for PlayStation and Cascade dish detergent. Last week’s show featured a number of high-profile ads from large companies such as Apple and Taco Bell.

In the immediate fallout from Bee’s profane comment, a couple of advertisers announced that they were suspending their commercials from the show. After that, however, there didn’t appear to be a widespread pullout of sponsorship as Bee quickly issued a statement of apology. Right now, it would appear that major advertisers are taking a wait-and-see approach.

While Turner is not commenting on the dropoff, a network insider told TheWrap they expected to see fewer advertisers this week and feel things will return to normal in the coming weeks.

Below is Bee’s cold open apology.