In an America divided under the leadership of Donald Trump, it seems every day a new celebrity or public figure is put under a spotlight, and forced to take responsibility for their actions. Roseanne Barr’s tweet on Tuesday drew immense backlash, and resulted in the cancellation of her show as well as the removal of Roseanne from re-run networks. Barr was dropped from her talent agency, INC Partners, and tweets from her co-stars and producers condemn her actions.
The agency’s decision to drop Barr followed a stream of tweets in which Barr described Valerie Jarrett, a former adviser to President Obama, as an offspring of the “Muslim Brotherhood & Planet of the Apes.” She then tweeted an apology after a social media deluge of criticism, saying it was a “joke” and that she was leaving Twitter.However, she continued to tweet and re-tweet statements in defense of her words and herself, at one point directly blaming her use of Ambien for the tweet. Ambien’s pharmaceutical company, Sanofi, quickly responded with a striking statement: “People of all races, religions and nationalities work at Sanofi every day to improve the lives of people around the world. While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication”.
One of the first to address Barr’s tweet was Wanda Sykes. Sykes was a consulting producer on the show, until she publicly announced that she would not be returning, less than a day after the tweet surfaced. The consequences of racist rhetoric are not often strong, but Barr’s case represents the state of many Americans, who are tired of putting up with blatantly racist speech. Unfortunately, this tweet is not Barr’s first public racism scandal. In the Jewish magazine “Heeb” in 2009, photos of Barr were published that showed her dressed as Hitler, baking a pan of burnt gingerbread cookies. This incident was also excused as a joke or a parody. Although the photos were addressed on several talk shows around the time of their appearance, the backlash was significantly smaller, and Barr experienced no immediate consequences.
Although the backlash from the tweet was predominantly negative, some Twitter users continued to defend Barr, drawing connections to the First Amendment. Political commentator and writer Ben Shapiro wrote: “Interesting to see the crossover between people who thought the NFL banning kneeling for the anthem was a First Amendment debacle, but think ABC didn’t raise any First Amendment issues by firing Roseanne.” This statement comes from someone who obviously does not experience this type of racial prejudice firsthand, and therefore does not understand the implications of the blatantly racist remark made by Barr. Regardless, nothing is stopping Barr or anyone else from making these remarks, but it is unrealistic to expect ABC and others involved in the show to stand behind it.
The quick and direct action of ABC should be applauded, as these incidents are often overlooked, allowing racist rhetoric to maintain a platform in mainstream media and among people who serve as role models and mentors. We can only hope that these occurrences will lessen as consequences become harder and harder to avoid.
