Samantha Bee’s show, Full Frontal, is apologizing today for portraying disgraced former Attorney General Eric Schneiderman as a superhero in a segment last November. The show left two videos featuring Schneiderman on its YouTube account but changed the titles and the descriptions to reflect current events. One of the videos is now titled, “Former AG Tricks Sam Into Thinking He Was Decent.” The description below it now contains this apology:
We taped this segment before the allegations against Eric Schneiderman came to light, and we sincerely apologize for characterizing him as a hero when, to so many women, he was the vilest villain. We’re keeping this piece online in the interest of integrity. We encourage you to make a donation to an anti-domestic violence organization like The Battered Women’s Justice Project: http://www.bwjp.org/ Also, if you’re a f**king disgrace, please consider not coming on our show.
In the video itself, Bee repeatedly portrays Schneiderman as a superhero standing up to Trump. “There is hope on the horizon, a hero who stood up to democracy’s nemesis before” she said. She continued, “Look up in the sky. It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s…” At that point, the clip cuts to Schneiderman introducing himself.
Bee asks Schneiderman, “Are you going to lead us out of the darkness?” He responds by saying, “With great power comes great responsibility,” a famous line from Spider-man. She then imagines Schneiderman as Schneider-man, an animated hero taking on Trump. While Schneiderman humbly protests, Bee keeps returning to the idea that Schneiderman is a superhero. She portrays his legal challenges to the Trump administration as a series of comic books:
“You are a superhero,” Bee says. Schneiderman replies, “No.” Then Bee says, “Why don’t we see what happens if you go into that telephone booth over there.”
Schneiderman was clearly in on the joke. At the end of the segment, he puts his fingers together and disappears. Bee reacts in mock surprise, “I knew it! Who saw that?” Here’s the full clip:
Bee also posted a second clip last year in which Schneiderman reveals that he loves Jazz. Bee tells him that’s “not cool” and the segment ends with her saying “Well, we know what his scandal’s going to be.” A mock-up of the NY Post front page reads, “Sax Addict AG Horn-y for Jazz.” The description of the second video has also been replaced and now reads, “Hi viewers, we published this web exclusive before we found out that Eric Schneiderman was a total d-bag.”
I guess Bee has to say something under the circumstances, but the fact remains that she selected this guy as her anti-Trump superhero solely because he agrees with her politics. But it turns out being a progressive champion doesn’t actually make someone a hero. You can believe those things and still be an incredible creep, just like Harvey Weinstein or Bill Clinton.
Here’s the second clip.
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