After giving a prime-time show to a racist, Trump-supporting, conspiracy theory-loving lunatic (apologies for all the redundancies), ABC and Disney belatedly did the right thing, sacking Roseanne in the wake of her repugnant tweet about former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett.
Now, if ABC’s competitor NBC wants to be on the right side of history too, it can take a big step toward deposing the abominable King Haggis-Face himself.
ABC has rightly been criticized for rebooting crazy Roseanne’s show in the first place, but if rumors of Trump’s off-the-chart racist rants backstage at The Apprentice are true (and how can they not be, really?), then NBC has done far worse than poison the public’s mind by propping up a deplorable sitcom star. It’s enabled race-baiting and vile dog-whistling at the highest echelon of government.
The United States has a metastasizing Donald Trump-sized tumor pressing on what’s left of its brains, and any excuses for not releasing the Trump n-word tapes (if they actually exist; and, let’s face it, they almost certainly do) are like an ER doctor refusing to operate on a dying patient because he doesn’t want to get sued for cutting through the guy’s awesome Zubaz.
America’s pulse needs to be stabilized, stat. We all need to do whatever we can to help. That includes flouting copyright law, if need be.
Again, there’s no absolute proof that these tapes exist, but come on. Even when he’s trying to behave himself, Trump exudes racist bile. The guy is to humanity what E. coli is to lettuce. Even when he knows he’s being broadcast live he can’t help but be a dick. Imagine what’s on those tapes.
Well, we don’t have to imagine too much, because we have descriptions.
For instance, there was this tweet from Apprentice producer Bill Pruitt, which he sent shortly after the Access Hollywood tape came out:
And Tom Arnold, a former Celebrity Apprentice contestant who, coincidentally, was once married to Roseanne, has claimed he’s heard the tapes, and that they’re as foul as you could ever imagine. Speaking to KIRO radio, Arnold attempted to explain why he never released the tapes himself:
“I’ll tell you why. Because when the people sent it to me, it was funny. Hundreds of people have seen these. It was sort of a Christmas video they put together. He wasn’t going to be president of the United States. It was him sitting in that chair saying the n-word, saying the n-word, calling his son a retard, just being so mean to his own children. Oh, this is so funny, this is this guy. The Sunday before the election, I get a call from [Arnold’s] CAA agent, sitting next to Hillary Clinton. They said, ‘I need you to release him saying the n-word.’ I said, ‘Well, now these people — two editors and an associate producer — are scared to death. They’re scared of his people, they’re scared of they’ll never work again, there’s a $5 million confidentiality agreement.’”
So what if these tapes did come out? Arnold seems to think it wouldn’t matter:
“I think if the people that like him saw him saying the n-word, he’s sitting matter-of-factly in front of there has to be 30 people there, and he’s matter-of-factly saying all of this stuff. So I think they would have liked him more, the people. For being politically incorrect.”
That’s probably true, because a deplorable is always a deplorable. But knowing Trump is a racist and seeing him viciously repeat the n-word over and over again are two different things. His core base would stick with him, but his support among independents and marginally sane Republicans would be even further eroded. Perhaps more importantly, it would help galvanize Democrats and progressives prior to the midterm elections.
So how about it, NBC? Want to be patriots? Or, perhaps more to the point, want to not be eaten by radioactive apocalypse children who know you’re ultimately responsible for their giant mutant heads and rapacious, never-ending hunger?
And Tom Arnold, WTF? Be a mensch. “Tom Arnold saves us all” would be the most unlikely headline since “Donald Trump elected president.” But it would be the best news we’ve gotten in years.
For God’s sake, do the right thing.
Release the tapes.
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Aldous J. Pennyfarthing’s Dear F*cking Lunatic: 101 Obscenely Rude Letters to Donald Trump is now available at Amazon (or at one of the other fine online retailers carrying it). Check it out!