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A Chat With Rosie O'Donnell  Last January I argued in my column, Don't Quote Me, that the rancorous situation between Donald Trump and Rosie O'Donnell is not, as the media so innocently calls it, a “feud,” but rather a very public display of Trump's misogyny and homophobia. Despite Trump's many efforts to make O'Donnell look bad, all he did was make himself look worse. His eagerness to expose a side of his character that most people would try to hide proved that he not only lacks a mental edit function, but that he lacks a conscience, as well. It's been a few months since Trump made the worst of his remarks. So when I learned yesterday that he had emerged from his gold-plated sewer just long enough to share with Entertainment Tonight his insensitive views on O'Donnell and her methods of dealing with depression, I thought, "Yippee! Three more months of lesbian-bashing!" Oh, no. I'm sorry. That was my Trumpified alter ego speaking from Insaneland. The real me fired off a passionate email to O'Donnell, requesting an interview. Although she doesn't normally give interviews, she agreed to take a few questions by email, which she answered in typical blogworthy Rosie fashion. AfterEllen.com: You haven't agreed to an interview on the Donald Trump situation until now. What changed your mind? AE: Why do you think that a man who has nothing valuable to say won't shut up? AE: Why do you think that the media is ignoring the deeper harm caused by Trump's hurtful words? AE: I think Trump continues to bash you because he's a homophobe and a misogynist. What do you think? AE: What bothers you most about what Trump has said? AE: The media continues to call your situation with Trump a "feud,” which is a ridiculously innocuous way to describe abuse. How do we teach people to stop treating each other so badly if we can't admit we're treating one another badly in the first place? AE: How do you feel the gay community has treated you in the aftermath of these Trump statements? AE: Is it true that GLAAD spoke to you about the Trump situation months ago, and that you told them to remain silent because of the publicity it would bring to Trump? AE: How do you balance being a comedian and a very passionate social commentator? AE: You're very open on The View about being a lesbian; how have viewers responded? AE: Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you about the rumors that you're going to get your own talk show again in fall 2008. Are they true, and if so, what can you tell me about the format? |
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News, Reviews & Commentary on Lesbian and Bisexual women in Entertainment and the Media
We Love You Rosie!!
errr
trump is a dirty old man. money is only attractive to shallow stupid people. love you rosie.
"truth has been silenced —
"truth has been silenced — by the media — since 9/11"
What supposed "truth" does she mean here? And what would it have to do with trump?
It would do well for gays and feminists to speak out against the persecution of gays and women in the muslim world instead of pretending that islamic terrorism is an invention of right wingers, as Rosie seems to be implying in the above statement.
Didn't say much
For someone who always has a lot to say, she sure didn't say much.
I learned nothing new.
Is she depressed again?
[West - The Writers Mafia]
She won't speak to GLAAD
But she'll talk to AfterEllen!
Love ya Ro, ignore the
Truth
I think the truth comment was meant in the since that there are many other things that should be taking up the medias time, not this feud. That is what she meant by the art of distraction, instead of reporting on the incredible flaws of this administration the media seems to find this more interesting.
You are amazing Rosie, and all this feud has done is show how much of a better person you are then the DumpTruck
Big Mouth
I DO NOT want a woman like this representing me as a lesbian as a matter of fact no one in Hollywood!
Can't stand the loud mouth.
Aside from Rosie, who's defending us?
Aside from Rosie, who's defending us?
When did Rosie ever say she was "representing" all lesbians? She never
said she was speaking for anybody but herself.
It's insulting and stupid for people to attack Rosie. The people who SHOULD
be attacked are the ones who remain silent in the face of so much
homophobia.
Here's an example. Gays and lesbians have never been allowed to march in
New York's St. Patrick's Day parade. And for years only gays and lesbians
cared. Lots of famous people around, nobody says a word about OBVIOUS,
OUTRIGHT discrimination.
This year there's a big scandal, though. Seems NY's firemen -- "the
Bravest," the press calls them -- have been relegated to the end of the
parade because, as the parade organizer says, they show up drunk and
embarrass everybody.
And the op-ed pieces fly. What a NUT! they scream. How can he be so CRAZY!
they blare. How INSULTING! they cry. Sure, do whatever the hell you want
to gay people but insult our firemen at your own risk!
The world sucks today, and one of the suckiest things about it is, once you
get money you buy into the program. How many celebrities have spoken out
against the war? Five? How many celebrities have spoken out for gay
rights? Three? How many NY city mayors have refused to march in the St
Patrick's Day parade because gays and lesbians aren't allowed? NONE.
In a perfect world, George W. Bush would be flipping burgers at Taco Bell,
right next to Donald Trump, and gay people wouldn't be attacked so often
Rosie would be called a "loudmouth" for defending us. That's like
calling Anne Frank a whiner.
I thank God almost daily that there's somebody as brilliant and gutsy as
Rosie. Yes, she's being attacked by the press. Should that stop her?
Should that stop anti-war protesters? Idiots will always be around, and the
fact that they don't understand what we're saying can't silence us.
We need to support Rosie every chance we get, and ask EVERYONE else --
from Jodie Foster to Britney Spears to Condaleezza Rice -- "Hey, when
Rosie was being attacked by Donald Trump, why didn't YOU speak up?"
You go RomanHans - completely agree - You go Rosie!
The negative comments that Rosie gets, it's like the reverse bitching that Ellen got after she decided not to talk about being out all the time - lots of people were screaming "Where's our leader?" and everybody was picking apart everything she said when she did speak. Anybody who wants to make negative comments about Rosie or Ellen or any of our other precious few celebrity lesbians who speak out when they can, listen: we don't get some LGBT spokesperson robot that you get to feed lines to and create. If more lesbians spoke out and came out, there would be all different personalities of real lesbians and they'd all form a lesbian consciousness, but for now, we have a few high profile people, putting themselves out there on a daily basis, on our behalf, and that has to be, at times, scary as hell for them , but that's who they are right now and they are doing it for themselves and for us.
P.S. Rosie: I loved the Donohue show in the 80s. "Caller?"
I admit that I find Rosie's
rosie
Rosie, you are wonderful.Thank you for doing the email interview w/ afterellen.
Keep talkin'
east of eden - YEEHA
rosie is the best, who cares, can you imagine if some one tape recorded all you say on a daily basis, we'd all be the devil, i hate when dykes bash ohter dykes, shit ani got it so hard, she didnt deserve it, she is just being her, and we all need to let eachother be us, whether its next to baba walters or in a latex whip you till you cum outfit, its all real, its all love.
thankful for rosie
i'm a regular on rosie's site, and i'm grateful she cares enough to take all the crap to just be who she is and speak her mind. i don't always agree with the way her point comes across, but most of the time, i'm right with her on the point.
there aren't too many people who are outspoken on gay and lesbian issues, at least not on the pro side of them, so i'm thankful she's back on tv now. kudos barbara walters. donald trump has always been a giant, ignorant a$s... as rosie said, same, same, same. and i would enjoy rosie on an 80's style donohue show.
:-) peace :-)
thanks to Kim
Thankyou Kim for going after the interview. I hadn't heard the rumour that Rosie had told GLAAD to leave the Dump Truck issue alone. Where has that been posted? Because I was angry that GLAAD hadn't taken it on. If they had intended to, but Rosie told them to back off - it puts it in a different light.
Rosie mentions that she
Rosie mentions that she didn't speak to GLAAD directly, but that they may have approached her publicist. One would think if that was the case, that Rosie would have been consulted prior to any course of action being decided.
GLAAD mentions that it was Rosie's representatives at ABC who were consulted and decided upon a course of action, or in this case, non-action. Again, if this were the case, would Rosie not have been a party to these discussions? It appears, she was not.
The phrase "her representatives at ABC" raises red flags to me -- does this mean her bosses at ABC? The same ones who were up in arms over the uproar on the Gray's Anatomy set? Don't fisticuffs on the set between actors constitute a personal argument as well? If so, then why the different standards?
Or are they speaking strictly about TPTB behind The View? I, for one, believe that it was very likely that Barbara Walters was not as supportive as she could have been in this situation and was all for letting the matter drop, hoping it would simply disappear all together. Not acknowledging it and dealing with it immediately simply allowed Trump to run with the story almost unfettered, spinning it to his own advantage, which was exactly what he wanted. Rosie, in the meantime, was all but muzzled and bore the brunt of his viciousness.
Personally, I think it comes down to a question of likeability. Rosie, at her worst can be brusque, loud and, on occasion, obnoxious and something of a bully. She is something of a hard sell in the cute and cuddly market of television and many people, on both sides of the community line, obviously find her hard to take. This does not and should not negate the fact that she is a member of the gay community who has been ill-treated at the hands of a bully in the media.
Bottom line, if marketability and likeability are deciding factors GLAAD and others in the gay community use to gauge whether or not they will speak out against homophobic rhetoric and behavior, all of us should be very concerned. If this is the case, it should give everyone pause to wonder, how would you rate?
Hmm...
Regardless of what she meant by the "truth has been silenced" statement, it was a complete non-answer to an important question.
Thank you Rosie, for deigning to tap out a few incoherent, utterly ridiculous ramblings.
For me, anything of interest that Rosie has to say gets lost in her IMspeak. I think her treatment of this "online interview" is appalling.
The non-answer answer
For the record, when I asked Rosie for the interview, I appealed to her sense of "do the right thing." In my mind, the media was ignoring (and still is ignoring) the obvious bullying. Trump's latest comments were unprovoked -- repeat: unprovoked -- and I thought that spoke directly to his true intent -- to publicly abuse her. I told Rosie that this needed to stop and that we all need to talk about it on a deeper level, as well as focus on the lessons to be learned from Trump's treatment of her (and by extension all women and lesbians) -- lessons about character, integrity and human dignity. My hope was that she would speak to all of that in a very direct way. Because of the email format of the interview, I was pretty sure that Rosie wouldn't suddenly turn into a chatterbox or even write in complete sentences just for me, but I did think that she'd give me more than she ultimately did.
Unfortunately, the resulting Q & A begs more questions than it answers — the most important one being: When given a platform to speak directly to Trump's treatment of her and what it means in the bigger picture, why did she not take advantage of it? Only Rosie knows the answer to that.
Also, in response to Jane's question about GLAAD, I wrote to GLAAD on an unofficial basis shortly after I wrote my original piece about Rosie and Trump. I told the powers-that-be there that I was disappointed in GLAAD's non-reaction to the situation (especially in the face of their quick reaction to the Isaiah Washington/T.R. Knight mess) and that my partner and I wouldn't give them any more money until they got their act together. Damon Romine responded (also unofficially), in part, with this: "We did discuss the issue with Rosie’s representatives at ABC and it was mutually agreed upon that our course of action was appropriate. Putting ourselves, and the community, into what was a personal battle between the two would have only elevated and escalated the situation, giving Trump exactly what he wanted, publicity, while stepping outside the bounds of our own mission."
I posed the GLAAD question to Rosie thinking that her reps spoke to her about the possibility of GLAAD stepping in. We now know that Rosie knew nothing about it.
So, after interviewing Rosie, after hearing from GLAAD, and after reading all the posts here and that follow my original piece, I, along with some of you, remain extremely frustrated. The question that still screams out for an answer is this: Regardless of whether you dislike Rosie or dislike Trump, regardless of if you think this all a publicity stunt manipulated by Trump and aggravated by Rosie, how do we teach people to stop treating each other so badly if we can't admit we're treating one another badly in the first place?
is anyone else
totally sick and tired of hearing Rosie and Donald go after one another in the media?