Samantha Bee never thought she would have to talk about sports this much. But since President Donald Trump has “had his hands full openly stoking a culture war” instead of helping the people of Puerto Rico, the host had no choice but go all in on his ongoing NFL debacle Wednesday night.
“Last week on sports roundup, we were trying to figure out if the president is a white nationalist, which he clarified this week when he demanded that black people be fired for insufficient nationalism,” Bee said on Full Frontal. “If anyone knows about treating soldiers and first responders with respect, it’s the guy who decided to fire transgender troops and deport paramedics who happened to be DREAMers. ‘Thank you for your service, now get the fuck out.’”
“You see what Trump's trying to do, take a protest specifically about police brutality and pretend it's about ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ and ‘Oh say can you see,’” Bee added, saying that’s never going to work because Americans are “too smart” to “fall for your flag gambit.”
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Cue Fox News pundits like Newt Gingrich and Kimberly Guilfoyle, who picked up Trump’s narrative and ran with it. Bee joked that when new Fox News host Laura Ingraham referred to NFL “kneelers,” she was really looking for a different word that starts with the letter “n.”
Bee was also shocked to learn that the custom of players standing for the national anthem only dates back to 2009. “If an entire nation is going to soil its jorts over a hallowed tradition, it should at least be older than the Kanye-Swift feud,” she said.
But the sentiment from Fox News that really had her up in arms came from those who thought multimillionaire players should be “grateful” to an America that “let” them succeed. “Why would anyone who has lots of money care what happens to people who don't?” Bee asked. In response to Gingrich, who said, “If you’re a multimillionaire who feels oppressed, you need a therapist, not a publicity stunt,” she shot back, “No, if you’re a multimillionaire who feels oppressed, you’re a Fox News personality.”
“For black people, professional success doesn’t come with a ‘get out of racism free’ card,” she added.
And to the commentator who said we should be thanking Trump for starting a “national conversation” about race, Bee replied, “Hey, wow, and what a conversation we’re having. Talking about black people and their owners and how they should be grateful for the privilege of working on a field. Who says Trump is taking us backward?”
