Roseanne the Racist

https://www.vox.com/2018/5/29/17406014/roseanne-racism-abc-trump-twitter
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/02/world/week-of-outrageous-remarks/index.html

Earlier this week, actress Roseanne Barr made a series of controversial comments against former Obama aide Valerie Jarrett, Chelsea Clinton, and Jewish billionaire George Soros. Her racist and just plain ignorant rants caused her show, Roseanne, to be cancelled. She tweeted that Jarrett, who is African American, is the baby of “the Muslim brotherhood and Planet of the Apes.” By comparing Jarrett to a monkey, Barr invoked centuries of racist philosophy. Black people have often been compared to animals (specifically monkeys) in an effort to dehumanize them and justify oppressive and brutish policies.

However, Barr’s blatant bigotry didn’t stop there. She later called Chelsea Clinton “Chelsea Soros Clinton” and then, in the same tweet as her apology, had yet another offensive comment – “By the way, George Soros is a nazi who turned in his fellow Jews 2 be murdered in German concentration camps and stole their wealth – were you aware of that? But, we all make mistakes, right Chelsea?” Barr was referencing a hateful (and false) right-wing conspiracy theory about Soros, who, during World War II, was a teenage boy who had to hide from the Nazi government in order to survive. Soros, did, however, warn several prominent Jewish lawyers about impending danger, but Barr didn’t feel the need to acknowledge that.

While Barr’s comments have widely been perceived as incredibly problematic, not everyone agrees. Donald Trump Jr. retweeted Barr’s Soros rant, saying he did not feel it was anti-Semitic in any way. And, while Barr (reluctantly) issued an apology for her comments about Jarrett, both Barr and Trump Jr. have yet to express remorse for the Soros tweet.

The Roseanne revival was one of ABC’s most successful shows. A staggering 18 million viewers tuned in to watch the premiere episode, while 10 million saw the season finale. And that’s precisely why it should never have been revived to begin with. Both Roseanne Barr and her namesake show have the power to reach a vast amount of people. As with any celebrity, people listen when she talks. When an extremely successful actress, who has the ability to reach at least 18 million people, compares an educated African-American woman to an ape, there’s a problem.

There’s been a problem for over a decade. Roseanne Barr has, time and time again, proven herself to be a conspiracy-loving troll. After Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager, was shot by police officer George Zimmerman, Barr tweeted “too bad trayvon was unarmed, or GZ would be the dead one. ARM ALL TEENAGERS” That’s actually one of her more mild tweets. In August 2016, Barr tweeted “hillary clinton is surrounded by jew haters who make fun of the holocaust yet her mkultra supporters call Trump a bigot!” For context – Barr believes the government is using mind control (MK Ultra) to make celebrities fear Trump and Republicans.

 Even her Twitter handle hints at her conspiracy beliefs. She tags herself as @therealroseanne. She is the one true Roseanne, and anybody who dares to claim they share her relatively common name is an imposter, a faker who can’t be trusted.

And yet, despite Barr’s continued pattern of sounding, to put it simply, unhinged, ABC decided to bring back Roseanne. They prioritized ratings over the messages she was sending. We tend to emulate what we see in the media; celebrities start trends, both social and political. When a woman who is at best crazy, and almost certainly dangerous and venomous, is allowed to reach 18 million people, there’s a problem. When celebrities endorsed the Time’s Up and #MeToo movement, real change happened. Abusive men in power finally started to fall. Those movements spread unity. For too long, Barr was allowed to spread her barrages of xenophobia and bigotry. And she is responsible for spreading hate and teaching thousands, if not millions of people, that vaccines are bad and 9/11 was an inside job.

Time's up, Roseanne. No more Roseanne, no more vicious attacks, and, I propose, no more tweets. With regards to her social media, I have one final comment:

#BarBarr