MSNBC Host Hails Samantha Bee for Her Pro-Abortion ‘Comedy and Facts’

MSNBC’s Ari Melber: The Beat
06/01/22
6.39.23 PM ET
9 minutes, 2 seconds

ARI MELBER: June is when the Supreme Court usually finishes its term, which means that draft ruling overturning Roe could come out this month and that would potentially overturn 50 years of precedent on women’s rights. The draft comes with a serious warning. It is defined against what we’ve heard from many people, from lawyers, to policy experts, to people across the culture who sounded an alarm that this is exactly what justices would do if they got on the court despite contrary pledges during their Senate hearings. Samantha Bee, the first female host of a late-night comedy show, was a pioneer in comedy and fact. Her show was, of course, on The Daily ShowThen, hosts Samantha Bee: Full FrontalTBS.

BEE [on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, 2008]: She made — I’m sorry, what is the decision? What was the decision? There’s another word I’m looking for. [SCREEN WIPE] It rhymes with — I think it rhymes with voice. [SCREEN WIPE]There are many options available, and it is up to you which one to choose. What’s the word I’m looking for? Is there a word for it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE [on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, 2008]: Adoption is one —

BEE [on TBS’s Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, 05/23/16]: Abortion providers have been visited by self-appointed soldiers for God with 185 arson incidents, 42 bombings and 100 acid attacks. 26 attempted murders were committed, as well as 11 actual killings. Pro-life stuff, you know. Plus —

MELBER: Samantha Bee continued to shape this — okay, sorry. I beg your pardon. Samantha Bee continued to shape this conversation with her show focusing on women’s health.

BEE [on TBS’s Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, 05/19/22]: Hello, we are glad to meet you Full frontal, I’m Samantha Bee. And if you’re like me, you’re just a few weeks away from having fewer human rights. Fun. [SCREEN WIPE]My belief is that we can reduce the number of precedents for controlling human bodies after the century Genghis Khan lived. [SCREEN WIPE]Decisions regarding reproduction are made by men who, as far as I know, believe that eggs are laid by women. [SCREEN WIPE] If they’re taking away our right to choose, fighting is the only choice we’ve got left. We’ll be right back.

MELBER: We are joined today by Samantha Bee (emmy-winning writer and comedian), host, and creator of Samantha Bee: Full Frontal. Welcome.

BEE: I am so grateful for your time.

MELBER: Let’s look at some of this coverage of women right — women’s rights and Roe.

BEE: Okay.

BEE  [on TBS’s Full Frontal With Samantha Bee, 02/29/16]: Have you thought about regulating the safety of back alleys, because that’s where a lot of women will be having their abortions now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don’t believe it.

BEE: You don’t?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE :

BEE [on TBS’s  Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, 10/11/17]The bill was rejected in both 2013 and 2015 twice. This bill just keeps returning to us, tormenting us each year. Transformers movies. [SCREEN WIPE] [on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, 2008] What’s the word I’m looking for? Alternative?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE [on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, 2008]The other option.

BEE [on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, 2008]: Choice? Yes, exactly.

BEE: It’s a bit of an — I feel emotional actually watching that.

MELBER: What is it that makes you feel emotional?

BEE: I don’t know, it’s just — it’s been a really long journey, that choice piece I did. This was the convention I attended when I worked at it. The Daily Show. This piece had a great meaning for me. It was almost like being on the ground and speaking to people. It took me two whole days to talk to people to complete that piece. And it was like, you know, I’m not saying that this happened. But it was like the word “choice” had been erased from everybody’s vocabulary on purpose. There, nobody would use the word. The word would not be spoken at the convention. I spoke to about 100 people and no one would use the word. It was just — you could have — I mean, I will never forget watching that piece down. That day, we had an enormous live audience. And that piece had been so hard to do, like, I’d been chased — people were — and I wasn’t even saying anything. I actually wasn’t even asking people difficult questions, but they figured out what I was getting at and I did get chased through the halls of the convention center. This was a difficult film to make. And you could hear a pin drop in the audience when it was — when we were just watching people struggle with what they knew I wanted them to say, but they wouldn’t say the word choice. It was impossible for them to say the word, and they wouldn’t be on camera. And then finally, we got a few people to say it — the audience erupted. Like we just — it was really, it was really a moment.

MELBER – Was it more important to you than laughing?

BEE: Ah, you know, I — it just — that level of catharsis meant a lot to me. It wasn’t — yeah, it wasn’t laughter. It was, however, meaningful for me at that moment.

MELBER: Justice Alito’s draft opinion leaks.

BEE: Sure.

MELBER – Would completely reverse Roe. How’d you feel when you — ?

BEE: I know. Surprised but not shocked. But not shocked. That’s all I can really say. It’s devastating — I mean, it’s devastating. It’s devastating. Everyone around me is — you know, people are texting me, they’re like, what are we going to do? I’m like — I actually don’t know. I’m so sorry. I actually don’t — I really don’t know. I really don’t know.

MELBER – Can you read my opinion to me?

BEE: Sure. Yeah, great.

MELBER: Okay. Let’s go.

BEE: We’re having fun today.

MELBER: He quotes a treatise of the 17th century.

BEE: That’s right.

MELBER: Saying, quote, “the abortion of a quick child was a great misprision if the child dieth in her body,” end quote. Also, he notes, as legal support for overturning Roe and this right, that in 1732, a woman was sentenced to three years in prison for, quote, “destroying the fetus in the womb,” end quote. Do you think that’s persuasive for how rights should be established today?

BEE: No, I do not. It’s impossible. No.

MELBER: And what do you think we’re dealing with? I mean, that’s the foundation. That’s the reasoning. That’s the actual — people can read it. There are many reasons why the leak was discussed. The opinions will eventually come out. The reasoning is clear. That’s the reasoning that in the early 1700s, a woman who had an abortion before this country existed was in prison for it.

BEE: Right. I mean, I don’t even know how to respond. I mean, obviously, I think it’s like, wildly unreasonable, wildly out of touch. I mean, I feel — I don’t even know how to encapsulate, how I feel when you read that to me in a moment. We’re going to talk, you know — we’re going to talk about it on the show this week, of course, we’ll be talking about it for years to come, I imagine. You just can’t imagine this kind of — like — minority rule where the vast majority of the country wants something and is very comfortable with something and they’re still living with this president — precedent for 50 odd years. To take it away is such a disgrace, and an injustice, imposing this kind of — anyway, you know how I feel about it. It’s obvious, right? It’s — I’m so sad. I’m so sad about it. I’m so sad about it.

MELBER: You know who says it’s not minority rule? Justice Alito.

BEE: Right.

MELBER – May I give you a little more from my opinion?

BEE: Yes. Will it make you smile? It’s a joke?

MELBER: It’s — I don’t think it’s a comedy.

BEE: I don’t think so.

MELBER: Quote, “Women affect the legislative process and vote at consistently higher rates than the percentage of men who do so.” In November 2020, he notes that in Mississippi, quote, “Women constituted 55 percent of the voters who cast ballots,” and he reasons that those women can unite to keep abortion legal in any state if they choose to.

BEE: It’s time to act on the filibuster. Because if we don’t — something is going to be done about it in the future, and it’s not going to be in our favor, it’s going to get much worse, so we might as well do it now, okay? 

MELBER: Okay.

BEE: You know, we’ve been talking about Roe v. Wade falling since the beginning of the show, you know, for seven years, we’re in season seven now, and look at where we are now? So, you hate that you — that I wasn’t wrong about that, but I wasn’t. We are here. And it’s very, very dire. We need to feel better about the world we live in or at least we need to, like, express it if we’re not going to feel better about it. People are often interviewed by me. I often interview people with, you know, it was just like the bleakest possible point of view and I feel better at the end of it, because I’m like, thank you for going there with me. We went there.

MELBER by Samantha Bee. Thank you for being here.

BEE, Thank you so much for being here. It was both very enjoyable and high-pressure. I was reading from Supreme Court documents.