Comedian and divisive former television star Roseanne Barr says her sitcom was canceled last year because of backlash against her support for Israel.
Barr spoke Monday at an event in Tel Aviv and said she had been “BDS-ed” by television network ABC. BDS refers to a Palestinian-led movement calling for boycott, divestment and sanctions of Israel.
ABC canceled its reboot of “Roseanne” last May after Barr tweeted racist remarks about former Obama administration adviser Valerie Jarrett.
Barr was in Israel for a four-day visit. She railed against Hollywood liberals, defended her support for President Donald Trump, and admitted to trolling her critics online with various fake accounts.
Barr said she has “witnessed horrific anti-Semitism and I’m just here to defend the Jewish people.”
(AP)
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4 Responses
Thanks Roseanne. Sticking up for Jews and going against the liberal tide takes a lot of guts.
“A ballas teshuva in the making. “Barr none”
Roseanne Barr may be a strong supporter of Israel. But that is not why she was fired. As mentioned in the article she was pushed out of show business for making a bizarre and bigoted statement about Valerie Jarrett. There are those who will point out that huge numbers of people have said similar things (without mentioning that those things were said in private). The firing wouldn’t have been justified if Barr had once, in private, said that Jarrett is a cross between Planet of the Apes and the Muslim Brotherhood. But tweeting that to the public is another matter. If public figures were allowed to get away with making statements such as these it would have a strong negative effect. I admit that there is at times a double standard when it comes to reporting or punishing this sort of behaviour. But if we, as Orthodox Jews, do not condemn Roseanne Barr- and others like her-for making offensive public comments about other groups how can we expect others to defend us from similar invective.
The article is of course primarily related to her support of Israel. Roseanne knows that she is controversial- and she knows that her current reputation is far from untarnished. If she were a true supporter of Israel she would not have launched her current spate of activism on it’s behalf. Whatever arguments she may or may not have marshalled on its behalf the public will only see the headline “Roseanne Barr supports Israel” or something to that effect. The result will that Israel, struggling to fend off the nonsensical libel that it is an “Apartheid State” will now be associated in the public mind with someone known to all as a racist. Roseanne is giving Israel a Lavan kiss.
If she truly desires to salvage her reputation and to do good let her live a life on anonymity and charity, not one of publicity and controversy.
Roseanne Barr may be a strong supporter of Israel. But that is not why she was fired. As mentioned in the article she was pushed out of show business for making a bizarre and bigoted statement about Valerie Jarrett.
Her statement was strange, but was it bigoted? She says she had no idea Jarrett was black. She had been under the impression (common in some circles) that Jarrett is an Iranian Moslem. If so, her tweet would not be bigoted, just weird. But whether that’s true or not, the tweet was definitely made in support of Israel. its entire point was that Jarrett is serving the cause of Moslem terrorists to destroy Israel. So how is she wrong in saying so?