For the second day in a row, the extreme right continued to defend Roseanne Barr and the racist tweet that ultimately got her fired. If anything, their outrage and excuses have only grown more pronounced, as ThinkProgress’ Extreme Right Tracker found.
Even after spending much of Tuesday racing to Barr’s defense — and even after the disgraced comedian apologized for her racist tweet aimed at former Obama administration adviser Valerie Jarrett — far-right accounts intensified their efforts Wednesday.
According to the Extreme Right Tracker, which monitors nearly 2,400 Twitter accounts identified as extreme right, the five most prominent trending topics on Wednesday afternoon were all related to ABC’s announcement that the channel would cancel Barr’s eponymous show.
Among the most popular topics were “abc,” “apes,” and “roseanne,” all specifically related to Barr’s racist comments.
Even among broader terms, much of the discussion centered on Barr’s firing.
For instance, the most popular topic, “racism,” was closely tied to both “roseanne” and “joy reid.” The latter stemmed from extreme right accounts’ attempts to point to apparent hypocrisy in MSNBC allowing Reid to retain her show despite a history of homophobic comments she blamed on unidentified hackers, while Barr lost her show entirely.
Now do your colleague Joy Reid. https://t.co/uLwyzHIXtm
— 'Sources Say' is Greek for 'Fake News' (@NolteNC) May 30, 2018
Roseanne apologized for what she called Valerie Jarrett
Will Hillary apologize for all the things she called Donna Brazile?
Asking for a friend
— Jack Posobiec🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) May 30, 2018
For good measure, three of the five most popular hashtags on the Extreme Right Tracker were related to Barr, including #roseannebarr and #valeriejarrett. The most popular hashtag, #istandwithroseanne, was most closely associated with another hashtag: #boycottABC.
It’s unclear what comes next for Barr. While ABC — which tolerated Barr’s racist, conspiratorial bigotry far longer than many wished — has finally parted ways with Barr, it’s clear that the far-right isn’t afraid to continue their attempts to turn her into a martyr.
And it may be having an effect. Not only did Barr spend Wednesday blaming her racist outburst on Ambien, but she tweeted that she now “feel[s] like fighting back.” For good measure, the White House even came close to defending Barr, with Press Secretary Sarah Sanders on Wednesday saying ABC still owed President Trump an apology for “saying the most horrible things about this president.”
you guys make me feel like fighting back. I will examine all of my options carefully and get back to U.
— Roseanne Barr (@therealroseanne) May 30, 2018
Elsewhere, according to pro-Trump conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, Barr is scheduled to appear on Joe Rogan’s podcast on Friday, which would be her first public appearance since her racism got her fired from prime-time.