Roseanne Barr’s very public and not-so-shocking racism got Roseanne canceled.
Though Roseanne is an outspoken Trump supporter and the show’s reboot shocked former fans and writers with its conservative slant, Trump did not initially speak out.
But Trump did break his silence on the cancelation. And he’s making it all about him.
Trump being Trump, he took to Twitter to lash out over Roseanne’s cancelation.
“Bob Iger of ABC called Valerie Jarrett to let her know that “ABC does not tolerate comments like those” made by Roseanne Barr.”
We know that Trump jumbles things a lot and it’s easy to be desensitized to that, but it took him all of four words to be wrong about something.
Bob Iger hasn’t been President of ABC since the 1990s. He’s the CEO of Disney, which owns ABC. We’re not splitting hairs; Trump is just showing his age.
“Gee, he never called President Donald J. Trump to apologize for the HORRIBLE statements made and said about me on ABC.”
Please don’t refer to yourself in the third person.
“Maybe I just didn’t get the call?”
It’s kind of amazing — though not surprising — that he manages to make the cancelation about him.
Roseanne’s unabashed bigotry cost about 200 people their jobs. Many are hopeful that the series can continue in a spin-off without Roseanne.
But the real issue with Trump’s tweet is that he continues to misunderstand the difference between absolutely depraved, indecent racism and … saying unkind things.
It’s like how n Thursday morning, some conservatives took to Twitter to attempt to raise a fuss about comedian and host Samantha Bee, who said unkind things about Ivanka Trump.
Whatever you may think about Ivanka, there is a difference between saying something that might hurt someone’s feelings and, say, using classic racist insults.
You can absolutely say unkind things about someone — even if those things are unfair.
But when we’re talking about Trump, his complaints about ABC News are basically just that they report the things that he says and does.
That’s not even an insult — that’s their job.
Roseanne was not just a Trump-supporter personally. The show’s reboot turned the original series on its head, politically speaking.
Many saw the reboot of Roseanne as almost a surrogate for Trump on television.
While many may have tuned into the pilot out of curiosity or nostalgia, others tuned in explicitly because they wanted a Trump-friendly sitcom.
(Many shows have, of course, integrated or acknowledged Trump in some way, but this is usually negative. Black Lightning has a villain say “make America great again” explicitly, while other shows like Star Trek: Discovery have subtler references to the ominous slogan)
Trump himself said that he called Roseanne Barr to congratulate her on her show’s pilot’s success.
After 18 million viewers turned out, the show was immediately renewed for another season.
Until Roseanne ruined it.
Of course, as many have pointed out, Roseanne has a history of making awful statements.
Prior to comparing Valerie Jarrett to an ape, she accused George Soros, who is both Jewish and was a child during World War II, of having been a Nazi collaborator.
Roseanne has also, through her social media activity, suggested that she believes that Trump is carrying out secret arrests of Illuminati pedophile rings by using secret courts.
She also combines her bigotry and conspiracy theories, saying things about “Jewish mind control.”
Critics say that ABC allowed to Roseanne reboot in the first place as a cynical ploy to attract viewers from Trump’s base, who would watch the series out of spite if nothing else.
Some even wonder if FOX canceling a number of shows with good racial and LGBT+ representation but renewing the canceled Last Man Standing was their attempt to get a piece of the “deplorable” viewership pie.
Roseanne was perhaps canceled because ABC’s leadership has certain lines that they are unwilling to cross.
But given that she was given a show to begin with — and had made similar comments about other former members of the Obama administration — many people have noted that it was the outcry that got the show canceled.
Sponsors notice outcry on social media. Networks take notice when sponsors pull out of a show.
Did Trump take her cancelation as a personal attack? Possibly.
It remains to be seen — and will not be seen until November of 2020 — whether enough of the American people will hold Trump to the same standards to which ABC held Roseanne Barr.
