President Trump on Tuesday was getting the blame for a worsening racism problem in America, after TV sitcom star Roseanne Barr compared a former Obama adviser to someone from “Planet of the Apes,” and as Starbucks was closing thousands of its stores to conduct anti-racial bias training.
Starbucks on Tuesday closed 8,000 of its stores to train employees, after one of its managers in Philadelphia called the police on two black men in April who entered the store and didn’t buy anything. On CNN, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said Trump’s rhetoric was a factor in rising racial tensions around the country.
“[White House rhetoric] has contributed to the problem,” Schultz said on CNN. “I would say on a personal level, [Trump’s rhetoric] probably has given license to people to feel as if they can emulate and copy the kind of behavior and language that comes out of this administration.”
When asked what the White House could do better, Schultz said it should “put humanity in the center of our conversation.”
At the same time, several people in the media were tying Barr’s tweet about former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett to her support for Trump. The sitcom star who just rebooted “Roseanne” said Jarrett, who is black, looks like a cross between someone in the Muslim Brotherhood and “Planet of the Apes.”
Her tweet quickly prompted ABC to cancel her show.
April Ryan, a Trump critic who works for American Urban Radio Networks, directly tied Trump to Barr’s tweet.
“These folks are looking for black women to go after these past few days to rile up the Trump base,” she tweeted Tuesday. “They need to stop. It is a dangerous climate!”
[Related: A majority of Americans believe racism remains a major issue: Poll]
These folks are looking for black women to go after these past few days to rile up the Trump base. They need to stop. It is a dangerous climate! https://t.co/bS7bu6x98j
— AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) May 29, 2018
Washington Post columnist and CNN analyst Max Boot said Trump is “normalizing racism.”
Trump is normalizing racism. https://t.co/ZMmKVQMF6W
— Max Boot (@MaxBoot) May 29, 2018
Naveed Jamali, an MSNBC contributor, said Trump is “ushering in an ideology that targets and dehumanizes non-whites…”
If Roseanne can express her opinion without consequence, can I as well? Trump is ushering in an ideology that targets and dehumanizes non-whites, removes rights of women to decide what to do with their bodies all of which has brought us closer to a cultural civil war. https://t.co/AbKkBP5Zg5
— Naveed Jamali (@NaveedAJamali) May 29, 2018
Several news stories also tied Barr to Trump. A Washington Post story about Barr’s tweet said the actress “regularly delights” Trump supporters by retweeting conservative content.
“The social-media rant wasn’t exactly a surprise performance by Barr, who regularly delights supporters of President Trump with her retweets of conservative memes and stories,” the Post reported.
