Valerie Jarrett responded to Roseanne Barr’s racist comments about her Tuesday — saying she’s “fine” but wants to turn it into a “teaching moment” about racism that others endure every day.
“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,” she told MSNBC.
“The person who’s walking down the street minding their own business and they see somebody cling to their purse or want to cross the street. Or walk across the street. Or every black parent I know who has a boy who has to sit down and have a conversation — the talk, as we call it.”
Barr sparked outrage when she tweeted that the former Obama administration adviser is like “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby” — leading ABC to cancel the popular revival of her sitcom “Roseanne.”
Jarrett says ABC CEO Bob Iger called her before he made the announcement, telling her he has “zero tolerance,” according to NBC.
Meanwhile, Obama’s former national security adviser and ex-UN Ambassador Susan Rice noted that Barr called her “a man with big swinging ape balls” back in 2013 — retweeting a screengrab of the disgraced comedian’s original tweet.