Racism in America: Winners and losers
Racism in America: Winners and losers
When Roseanne Barr returned to ABC television recently, America gave her a second chance and embraced her. The network hoped that the working-class mom she played would a good fit for a crazy Trump era.
But Barr showed her ugly color this week when she blasted a racist tweet about Valerie Jarrett, a former advisor to Barack Obama, describing her as an ape.
ABC immediately canceled Roseanne’s show and described her comment as “abhorrent, repugnant.” It was the right call by ABC and a bad tweet by Barr.
At the same time, Starbucks shut down all of its store nationwide for four hours to train its employees on racial sensitivity after two black men were arrested at a Starbucks in Chicago for being at the store and buying nothing. It was the right call by Starbucks leadership and possibly has opened a new chapter for the company.
Barr is known for controversy, but she crossed a line when she referred to Jarrett in a tweet as a “child” of the “Muslim Brotherhood” and “Planet of the Apes.” ABC president blasted that comment in a news release, saying it was “inconsistent with our values,” NBC News reported.
Barr apologized for her tweet, saying on Tuesday morning she was sorry “for making a bad joke” about Jarrett’s politics and her looks, NBC reported.
Jarrett said she is fine and “we have to turn it into a learning moment,” she said in a downhill meeting on MSNBC.
ABC and Starbucks made the right decisions. Barr made the wrong choice and she lost.
