Trump Responds To ABC’s Handling Of Roseanne Tweet

On Wednesday morning, President Trump responded to ABC’s announcement Tuesday that it canceled pro-Trump Roseanne Barr’s hit sit-com reboot over her “abhorrent” tweet describing Valerie Jarrett as the love child of the Muslim Brotherhood and “The Planet of the Apes.” In his response, however, Trump didn’t actually address Barr’s comments but, rather, focused on what he suggested was ABC’s double standard in reaching out to Jarrett but not him.

“Bob Iger of ABC called Valerie Jarrett to let her know that ‘ABC does not tolerate comments like those’ made by Roseanne Barr,” wrote Trump. “Gee, he never called President Donald J. Trump to apologize for the HORRIBLE statements made and said about me on ABC. Maybe I just didn’t get the call?”

Jarrett has also responded to the debacle by initially taking the high road before going on MSNBC and suggesting Trump was to blame in part for Barr’s tweet.

“First of all, I think we have to turn it into a teaching moment. I’m fine. I’m worried about all the people out there who don’t have a circle of friends and followers coming to their defense,” Jarrett said in her initial statement. But in an appearance alongside none other than Joy Reid and Rev. Al Sharpton for MSNBC’s “Everyday Racism in America” panel, Jarrett said suggestively, “The tone does start up at the top, and we like to look up to our president and feel as though he reflects the values of our country.”

The fallout from Barr’s since-deleted tweet was fast and furious. Just hours after the actress apologized to both Jarrett and the American people for the tweet and vowed to get off Twitter, ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey said in a statement that Roseanne’s comment was “abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values,” and announced “we have decided to cancel her show.”

Though she’d sworn off Twitter, in response, Roseanne posted a series of comments, some of which have been deleted, suggesting that she didn’t realize Jarrett wasn’t white and citing “Ambien tweeting” as the reason for her bad decision to post the tweet.

The producer of Ambien has since responded with a statement that’s earned it some good PR: