5/30/2018

ENTERTAINMENT/MEDIA/RACISM/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump acknowledged on Wednesday [5-30-18] the furor over a racist Twitter post made by Roseanne Barr, but focused on an apology issued by ABC instead of the offensive content of the television star’s remarks…It was the first time the president, who previously had called Ms. Barr to congratulate her on the success of her sitcom’s reboot, had weighed in on the fallout over her Twitter post. But Mr. Trump did not acknowledge the specifics of what Ms. Barr wrote, and later deleted on Tuesday [5-29-18], in reference to Valerie Jarrett, a former senior adviser to President Barack Obama. Ms. Jarrett said on Tuesday that Robert A. Iger, chief executive of the Walt Disney Company, ABC’s corporate parent, had personally called her to apologize for the Twitter post before it was publicly announced that Ms. Barr’s sitcom had been canceled. Ms. Barr has been vocal in her support of Mr. Trump and wanted the revival of her eponymous sitcom to address some of the divisive political issues facing the United States. In the aftermath of her show’s cancellation, she has since apologized, blaming the Twitter posts in part on medication.”

-Emily Cochrane, “Trump Responds to Fury Over Roseanne, but Not Her Racist Remarks,” The New York Times online, May 30, 2018