Brian Maloney at The Radio Equalizer is amazed at how Rosie O'Donnell can find racism in a black ABC anchor asking singer Chris Brown about his felony assault case against his then-girlfriend (and fellow music star) Rihanna. Racism trumped feminism:
O’DONNELL: I can name twenty-five stars who trash dressing rooms, who trash hotel rooms. I just don't know why this kid seems to be held to a different standard than anyone else.
JANETTE BARBER (executive producer): I can't help but go, is there a racist thing here, because--
O'DONNELL: I totally think there is, and I also think it's why he felt he was safer with Robin Roberts.
BARBER: ...I was thinking of Kanye West. Is he the one that they wouldn't let get over the thing at the music awards--
O'DONNELL: With Taylor Swift.
BARBER: Wasn't there a thing a few months ago where they wouldn't let him get past that, either?
O'DONNELL: ...With Matt Lauer.
BARBER: Black rappers are not allowed to be angry and then recover from it?
O'DONNELL: Well, I do think that there is a societal paradigm in which you have to be an angel or a thug if you're a black male.
A media critic could ask if bringing up Brown's treatment of Rihanna is a compulsory interview question, while ABC can certainly skip over uncomfortable scandal questions/audience reminders when there are actual elected or appointed public officials in the studio (start with the Edwards family). But the next day, Barber added with great drama that Brown was being stoned by the village, as in one horrific modern short story:
We have all turned into Shirley Jackson's '[The] Lottery,' as far as I'm concerned...That's what our society is. 'Chris Brown -- let's get him! Let's get him! He veered from the path! He did something he shouldn't do!'
As Maloney asked, "THIS is liberal feminism in 2011?"
