Aaron Schlossberg and Roseanne Bar side-by-side pictures.
Roseanne Bar didn’t you hear about Aaron Schlossberg? He is a Jewish New York lawyer that went into a racist rant in a Manhattan eatery which went spontaneously viral, viral video on May 16, and he saw first-hand the power of social media. Surprisingly, Mr. Schlossberg announced in his website that his law firm catered to Spanish speaking clients with “Hablamos español…”. Perhaps, Roseanne simply believes she immune from having common sense, because of her time in the spot light?
— Dave White (@Dave_White67) May 30, 2018
Roseanne replies to Alex Jones with a retweet meme stating “We Can Say Anything We Want and the Left-Wing Media Keeps Us Employed”.
The President of the United States Donald Trump then Tweets in the same trend:
Bob Iger of ABC called Valerie Jarrett to let her know that “ABC does not tolerate comments like those” made by Roseanne Barr. 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?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2018
Mr. Schlossberg has apologized and says that he is not a racist, he wrote “To the people I insulted, I apologize,” in a message he posted on Twitter and LinkedIn. “I am not a racist,” he added, claiming that the video in question did not capture “the real me.” The apology came nearly a full week after Schlossberg’s rant aimed at Spanish-speaking employees of a Manhattan restaurant went viral online and after two local elected officials told CNN that they filed a complaint with a New York court seeking to have Schlossberg’s license to practice law suspended.
And now Roseanne, Roseanne, Roseanne… How is it not surprising that you too are apologizing after receiving an immediate backlash for your racist remarks on twitter. In a response to a comment about Jarrett, Barr had said: “Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.”. Then trying to excuse herself, she went as far as blaming the use of Ambien, a drug that treats insomnia for her impropriate comments.
Sanofi, the maker of Ambien, responded with a statement full of shade: “While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication.”
Now, truth be told, Roseanne has always been known for her controversial views and ABC rolled the diced when they hired her. Her popularity has come from her ability to speak her mind. The reality is that racism, bigotry, and biasing are a part of our society and the previous Presidential election, namely our fearless leader Donald Trump has made that much more clear on how prevalent it lingers. So where can we go from here?
Perhaps corporate America has a lot to learn from Starbuck’s Executive Chair and Founder Howard Schultz and CEO Kevin Johnson. In an interview with CNN, Mr. Schultz doesn’t deny the obvious, but instead looks to threat the problem of racial bias through education and openly speaking about the issues that surround racism. Mr. Johnson wasted no time in personally addressing the issue of racism immediately after a video went viral of African Americans that were removed and arrested by police officers in Pennsylvania from a Starbucks for no other apparent reason than the establishment’s manager social bias (wonder what Philadelphia PD is doing about it?). Starbuck’s leaders have vowed to attack the issue head-on and didn’t wait to be told as to what should be the right thing to do after such event… Bravo, maybe there is hope for humanity after all!
We’ve come a long way from the times of slavery and sitting in the back of the bus, but for a very long time our society has also gone into a phase of denial. Pretending that racism doesn’t exist doesn’t make it magically disappear, instead it goes on subtle in the private conversations, hidden agendas and the way people socialize. Individuals are often marginalized simply do to hidden prejudice, which can be infectious in a group setting. Even an individual of color can see themselves siding with obvious wrong doing simply to justify their own personal acceptance (often known as the mob affect). Don’t think that interracial marriages make an individual forget their own upbringing and social exposure, either. It would almost seem that Donald Trump has done us a favor in exposing the fact that racism continues to be a problem in American society, as it still is in many other parts in the world. So, let’s start changing the conversation and begin accepting that people do have social and racial biases, and educate on how to manage these issues both individually and socially. Maybe there will come a time when there won’t be any distinctions between people of diverse backgrounds and likes, but until then pretending it doesn’t exist is not the answer.
As for you Roseanne, Kevin O’Leary has a message for Mr. Schlossberg that might as well have had your name on it:
“Admitting this is unacceptable to anyone, apologizing and asking for forgiveness are good first steps,” O’Leary says. “But actions, not words, are going to be what others will be measuring going forward.”
COMMENTS