An “Ape” ?

An “Ape” ?    

 Jos. R Walsh  5/29/18

We pretty much knew that Donald J. Trump was a Racist.

We had a pretty good idea that Roseanne Barr was Racist.

Yet Trump became president, and abc gave Roseanne a show. Then Trump raved about Roseanne’s ratings, (one TV Star congratulating another), claiming her show was about, what he told the crowd was, ‘Us’. Except for perhaps Racism, Trump and that crowd had very little in common.

The average income of those attending the Trump rally was very steep valleys below Mr. Trump’s. Their youth and lifestyles were worlds apart. But, they celebrated their ‘Us’ vs. ‘Them’ paranoia together and cheered on one of their folk heroes, the racist Roseanne Barr.

Trump won election to the presidency by the supposedly evening- mechanism of the Electoral College; despite Hillary Clinton having won the popular vote by over 3 Million Votes. abc Television decided to cash-in on Trump’s popularity by dusting off the old Roseanne show and trotting her out in an updated version. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, what went wrong is that Roseanne Barr called Valerie Jarret an ape. This outrageous, blatant Racism surprised almost no one who is familiar with Roseanne Barr. And, gauging abc’s rapid response, they too, were none-too-surprised by Barr’s repugnant behavior.

Jarrett graduated from Northfield Mount Hermon in 1974, and subsequently earned a B.A. in psychology from Stanford University in 1978 and a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the University of Michigan Law School in 1981. She was a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Chicago Medical Center from 1996 to 2009, becoming vice chairwoman in 2002 and chairwoman in 2006. Jarett was a member of the board of Chicago Stock Exchange (2000–2007, as chairman, 2004–2007). She also served as vice chairwoman of the board of trustees of the University of Chicago and a trustee of the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

On November 14, 2008, President-elect Barack Obama selected Jarrett to serve as White House senior advisor and assistant to the president for intergovernmental relations and public liaison. Jarrett was one of three senior advisors to President Obama. She held the  position of assistant to the president for intergovernmental affairs and public engagement, managed the White House Office of Public Engagement, Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, and Office of Urban Affairs; she also chaired the White House Council on Women and Girls and the White House Office of Olympic, Paralympic, and Youth Sport. She was part of the U.S. State Visit to the UK in May 2011. Today, Roseanne Barr called her an “Ape”.

abc/Disney rolled the dice with a popular racist and was rewarded with a savagely racist twitter rant. abc tossed Barr into the trash heap as if she were last week’s garbage.

 abc said "Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show," Channing Dungey, president of ABC Entertainment, said in a statement. Well then, if she was repugnant and inconsistent with abc’s values, why did she have a show on the network to begin with? Barr’s previous use of social media to provoke, attack, and spread conspiracy theories is well known. Where, oh where, was abc/Disney’s outrage when it came time to give her a show?  Too little, Too late.