Roseanne Barr Says The Holocaust Didn’t Happen
In a recent appearance, Roseanne Barr said the Holocaust didn't happen.
Haaretz reports that Rosanne Barr is again facing backlash after her most recent comments suggesting that the Holocaust never happened on Theo Von’s This Past Weekend podcast. The episode, which aired on June 14, is being scrutinized not only because of Barr’s antisemitic comments, but also because Theo Von didn’t question or condemn her theories while she was laying out her case. In addition to her Holocaust denial, Barr went on to say that she was fired from “Jewish Hollywood” despite the fact that she is Jewish herself.
Theo Von replied to the Roseanne Barr backlash by posting the almost four-minute clip from the two-and-a-half-hour podcast episode. Von stated that Barr was “obviously using sarcasm and satire” to drive home a bigger point, but his defense is also being met with criticism given the context of the conversation.
Though Von and Barr were seemingly talking about the bigger picture of what free speech means in America, which is normally considered fair game, but it’s the antisemitic nature of the conversation that is being called into question by Twitter users, The American Jewish Committee, and the Anti-Defamation League.
The American Jewish committee went on record stating that whether Roseanne Barr was being serious or facetious doesn’t matter when you consider the sensitivity of the subject. Given the nature of Theo Von’s informal, casual conversation format, Barr used his platform to explain why she thinks Jewish Hollywood is run like an “organized crime network.”
Barr went on to say that although she’s of Jewish heritage, she’s “not the right kind of Jew,” which is why she was fired from Hollywood.
Jonathan Greenblatt, the director of the Anti-Defamation League, weighed in on the episode, and condemned Roseanne Barr’s comments as “reprehensible and irresponsible.” While an overwhelming amount of Twitter users are agreeing with this sentiment, and how Theo Von shouldn’t have let the conversation go as far as it did, other users are coming to Barr’s defense, stating that the interview is being taken out of context to make her look bad while condemning free speech.
There’s always a very thin line that separates intention and perception, and we’re seeing this conversation play out in real time on Twitter showing us both sides of the coin.
At this point in her career, Roseanne Barr is no stranger to controversy. Shortly after Roseanne was renewed for an eleventh season in 2018 after a successful Season 10 revival, Roseanne was fired from the show after making a racist tweet about former President Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett. Shortly after she made these comments, Roseanne was canceled, and rebranded as The Connors, allowing the rest of the cast to continue the series without her.
Moments like this illustrate the difference between intent, execution, and reception.
