Media hypocrisy over Roseanne Barr
Roseanne Barr’s racist reference to Valerie Jarrett is irresistible and Barr rightly apologized. But was ABC TV’s decision to punish Roseanne by cancelling her hit TV series revival warranted? Or, is it the result of a double standard fueled by news media bias against Barr because of her open support of media nemesis President Donald Trump? All you have to do is look at Samantha Bee and Kathy Griffin to see it
By Ray Hanania
Not even Roseanne Barr says that what she tweeted about former President Barack Obama’s top aide Valery Jarrett was appropriate.
The star of the hit ABC TV sitcom revival “Roseanne,” Barr posted a Tweet in which she made a racist reference to Jarrett in regards to claims that Jarrett had covered up many of President Obama’s “misdeeds.”
Barr tweeted that Jarrett was the product of the “Muslim Brotherhood” and “Planet of the Apes” leading her critics to take the worst interpretation that Barr was calling Jarrett, who is African American, “an Ape.”
Roseanne Barr at the Hard Rock Cafe in Maui in 2010. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Barr immediately apologized but before she could even finish the apology, ABC officials cancelled the “Roseanne” show which was one of this season’s most popular TV programs, revived from its original airing between 1988 and 1998.
What Barr said about Jarrett was absolutely wrong. It was racist, But Barr apologized and took responsibility for it. Personally, I believe that individuals who say bad things regarding race, religion or national ancestry and then apologize should be given a second chance. People, trying to be clever, often go beyond what they intended in mean-spirited ways.
I don’t believe Barr intended her criticism of Jarrett to be racist, but that’s what came out.
But what really bothers me, and should bother you, is that for some reason, Barr is the only person being punished for making irresponsible racist or discriminatory comments.
It seems like the criteria for punishment isn’t really the substance of what’s being said, but the politics of the person making the comment.
I can just see Hillary Clinton and her leftist fanatic supporters cringing each week during the revival of the Roseanne Barr show. Barr has made no bones about the fact that she support Trump and is critical of far left wing liberals.
I could be wrong, but I didn’t see the same kind of swift punishment against Samantha Bee, one of President Obama’s closest celebrity friends, who used the “C-word” to attack First daughter Ivanka Trump during one of her “comedy” monologues on her show “Full Frontal” broadcast on the TBS network. In fact, Bee has made even more vicious attacks against the First Lady before that and no one did anything. TBS didn’t cancel Bee’s program.
Gender bias – the discrimination against women – is just as bad as racism against African Americans. Ironically, many anti-Trump media pundits are arguing that discrimination against women – using the “C-word” doesn’t even come close to less direct racist rhetoric against African Americans.
There is something wrong with the system, here folks.
Last year, comedian Kathy Griffin posted a photo of a bloodied head of “President Trump” and was quickly lambasted. Her career didn’t come to an end but she was dropped from the anti-Trump TV news program CNN as the “co-host” with anti-Trump hater Anderson Cooper, of their boring New Year’s Eve program. But Griffin has continued to do shows and comedy performances with very little consequences.
There’s no doubt that this entire controversy is all about politics. It has nothing to do with confronting racism or gender bias against women, or ending all forms of racism and discrimination. It has nothing to do with apologies. It has nothing to do with comedy, entertainment or intent.
It’s all about exploitive politics and the media campaign against President Trump.
When a politician can be convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison for what the U.S. Attorney “fears” he might do – “selling” a U.S. Senate seat – really trading it for political benefit – but shrugs when murderers and drug dealers get are paroled after only a few years in prison, you have to wonder about our system of justice.
Again, the issue comes down to the mainstream news media which plays politics with issues of morality, justice and fairness.
President Trump should commute Blagojevich’s 14 years sentence to time served (7 years).
And finally, the media keeps reporting that President Trump can pardon himself. But pardon himself from what? The media’s made-up hysteria presumes Trump is convicted and then can be pardoned?
President Trump didn’t turn this country up-side-down. The mainstream news media has.
(Ray Hanania is an award-winning columnist, author and former Chicago City Hall reporter. Reach him at his personal website at www.Hanania.com or email him at rghanania@gmail.com.)
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Ray Hanania
Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
A critic of mainstream news media bias, Hanania advocates for peace & justice for Israel & Palestine, & the empowerment of Arabs in America.
"I write about three topics, the Middle East, politics and life in general. I often take my life experiences and offer them in an entertaining way to readers, and I take on the toughest topics like the Israel-Palestine conflict and don't pull any punches about what I feel is fair. But, my priority is always about writing the good story."
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His columns are archived here. Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.
Email Ray Hanania at rghanania@gmail.com.
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