Glenn Greenwald: Why Did ABC Ignore Roseanne Barr’s Hateful Tweets Against Arabs and Palestinians?

On Tuesday ABC canceled its hit show “Roseanne”, after its star, Roseanne Barr, fired off a series of racist comments on Twitter. In one tweet, Roseanne wrote, “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.” It was a reference to Valerie Jarrett, longtime adviser to President Obama, who’s African-American. Roseanne also accused billionaire George Soros, who’s Jewish, of being a Nazi collaborator and attacked Chelsea Clinton. The decision to cancel Roseanne was made by Channing Dungey, the first African-American president of a major TV network. The reboot of the hit 1980s sitcom Roseanne last year drew huge audiences and praise from President Trump, who once called Roseanne Barr to congratulate her on the show’s success. Democracy Now! spoke with Glenn Greenwald in Rio de Janeiro.

“This is stuff that she has been saying about lots of different groups, including African Americans, but especially Arabs and Palestinians, for a long time. It’s just that Arabs and Palestinians, racism towards them tends to be more acceptable,” said Greenwald.