CNN analyst Van Jones applauded ABC’s decision Tuesday to cancel Roseanne Barr’s hit television show after her now-infamous “Planet of the Apes” tweet.
Ms. Barr’s revival of her hit show was pulled by ABC after she called former Obama White House advisor Valerie Jarrett a mash-up of the Muslim Brotherhood and “Planet of the Apes.”
The tweet was deleted and the celebrity announced a hiatus from the social media platform.
“I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans,” Ms. Barr said in a statement. “I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks. I should have known better. Forgive me — my joke was in bad taste.”
But Mr. Jones, former President Obama’s “green jobs czar” who was forced to resign in 2009 after news broke that he called Republicans “a—holes” and signed a “911 Truth” petition, said “a rank bigot who is a conspiracy theorist” got what was coming to her.
“Some things apparently are more important than money, even to a big corporation like ABC-Disney, and that is very heartening,” Mr. Jones said during a CNN interview. “We’ve been in a moral free-fall for at least three years. … It is in fact important that red-state America be better represented in the media, but they can have a better representative than a rank bigot who is a conspiracy theorist and who is trashing good people in this country. … I thought she was probably gonna get away with it.”
Mr. Jones’ signature on the “9/11 Truth” statement was eventually removed at his request.
“On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me,” he wrote in September 2009. “They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide.”
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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