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TV Show’s New “Apology Race” Features Global Race to Apologize For Trump

In a spoof on Amazing Race, TBS Network’s Full Frontal with Samantha Bee runs an “Apology Race” as contestants race around the world to see who can apologize the most for Trump’s comments.

It was a race around the world to see who could be the most sorry, with contestants apologizing for “every garbage thing Donald Trump does,” Samantha Bee, host of the TBS news satire show “Full Frontal,” said.

Bee announced this new segment on the show two weeks ago. In a spoof of the long-running globetrotting reality show, “Amazing Race”, Bee’s team of correspondents scoured the world, apologizing to anyone the president may have offended. Like the competitive show it spoofed, a winner would be chosen among the correspondents.

“His poor impulse control might force us to go apologize to Korea, the entire Muslim world or some ‘rando,'” Bee said in a promotional video for the race.

They ended up speaking to everyone from recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), to Hurricane Maria survivors in Puerto Rico.

They also apologized to House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff for Trump’s resistance to the probe of his possible collusion with Russia during the election.

“This is no witch hunt,” Schiff responded on the show, referencing Trump’s own word usage on the matter. “This is the President of the United States not taking seriously an attack on our sovereignty by a foreign adversary. If we can’t accept what the Russians did during the election there is no way for us to prepare to defend ourselves in the next election.”

Also on the show’s itinerary was veteran journalist and news anchor Dan Rather, in regards to Trump’s attacks on the press. The news icon graciously rebuked an apology, explaining: “The press, under attack, tends to stiffen its spine. The press is probably a little better now because of the President’s attacks.”

“Full Frontal” fans could suggest locations to send correspondents, by using the hashtag #ApologyRace. Producers felt this would help keep the show relevant with the ongoing news cycle in real time. “We are here all day with Twitter on and CNN and other news shows,” explained Carol Hartsell, the show’s managing digital producer. “When something big happens you hear it reverberate around the office. We are reacting and want our fans to know we are reacting to it.”

At the conclusion of the race this week, the team of four correspondents learned that they apparently couldn’t keep up with the president’s gaffes in the past two weeks. According to Samantha, at least sixty-plus other countries, groups, or individuals were still due an apology.

Bee has stated that her show’s aim is to give viewers an outlet from the controversies and challenges of the new presidency. Like other late-night talk show hosts Stephen Colbert and Seth Myers, humor is her platform.

Samantha Bee was born and raised in Canada, and started her way up in the comedy world as a correspondent on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” in 2003. She was chosen by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2017.

“Full Frontal” airs on TBS, Wednesdays at 10:30 p.m. Eastern/Pacific time.

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