Comedian Samantha Bee has apologized after a correspondent on her TBS show joked that a cancer patient had a "Nazi haircut."
Michael Rubens, a correspondent on Bee’s show, hosted a segment from the Conservative Political Action Conference. Part of his segment commented on a common hairstyle sported by conference members.
“This year, the bow ties were gone, replaced by Nazi hair, Nazi hair, Nazi hair…” Rubens said, while showing fast cuts of young men with partially shaved heads.
On Thursday morning, a woman claiming to be the sister of Kyle Coddington — one of the men featured in the video — tweeted at Bee, claiming her brother’s haircut was due to his battle with cancer.
“When @iamsambee makes fun of your brother for having "Nazi hair." He actually has stage 4 brain cancer, but whatever floats your boat,” Megan Coddington wrote.
When @iamsambee makes fun of your brother for having "Nazi hair." He actually has stage 4 brain cancer, but whatever floats your boat. pic.twitter.com/ULJC8nA3IX
— Megan Coddington (@meg_kelly16) March 9, 2017
Kyle Foley, a reporter for the conservative website Heat Street, also informed Bee via Twitter of Coddington’s health situation.
Hi @iamsambee. Guy w/"Nazi hair" has cancer and is going through chemo, that's why his hair looks like that. You need to apologize for this. pic.twitter.com/mqbgNYHyaN
— Kyle Foley (@KFoleyFL) March 9, 2017
.@SuperDevilJoe waiting for your apology. pic.twitter.com/u8NLIODVS3
— Kyle Foley (@KFoleyFL) March 9, 2017
Hours later, Bee herself tweeted an apology to both Kyle and Megan Coddington. The segment have also been removed from YouTube and Facebook.
“@meg_kelly16 We deeply apologize for offending you and @_that_kyle. We only learned of his condition today & have removed him from the piece,” Bee wrote.
@meg_kelly16 We deeply apologize for offending you and @_that_kyle. We only learned of his condition today & have removed him from the piece
— Samantha Bee (@iamsambee) March 9, 2017
According to a GoFundMe page for Coddington, he was diagnosed with stage 4 glioblastoma — a brain tumor with no known cure — in December.
Alex Hider is a writer for the E.W. Scripps National Desk. Follow him on Twitter @alexhider.
