WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump responded Wednesday to ABC's decision to cancel the hit show "Roseanne" because the show's star sent a racist tweet comparing an African-American Obama administration official to an ape.
In his tweet, Trump criticized the network, not Roseanne Barr, whose revived sitcom depicted a blue-collar Midwestern family that voted for the president.
"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?"
Iger, chief executive of ABC's parent company Walt Disney, quit the president's business advisory council in June 2017, protesting the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate accords. Later he called Trump's decision to end protections for young immigrants known as Dreamers as "cruel and misguided."
Trump's tweet belied the impression given by Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, who told reporters on Air Force One en route to Nashville on Tuesday that the president had bigger things to think about than a television show's cancellation. "That's not what the president is looking at," Sanders said when pressed about Trump's reaction. "That's not what's he's spending his time on. I think we have a lot bigger things going on in the country right now."
Trump did not mention the "Roseanne" cancellation during a rally Tuesday night in Nashville.
Two months ago, Trump extolled the show's early ratings at an Ohio rally purportedly about infrastructure policy. The day before the rally, Trump had called Barr to congratulate her on the show's successful debut.
"And it was about us!" Trump told the crowd, extending his arms to the audience. Pointing toward the press area, Trump added, "They haven't figured it out yet. The fake news hasn't quite figured it out yet."
