Roseanne Barr vs. Jussie Smollett: The Two Cases Show a Clear Liberal Bias in Hollywood

Police are alleging the 'Empire' actor faked a hate crime, but he has yet to be fired from his gig on the popular Fox show

By Zachary Leeman | February 22, 2019

If there is any doubt that there’s an aggressive left-leaning political bias in Hollywood, all one needs to do is look at the Jussie Smollett case — and compare it to the 2017 firing of Roseanne Barr.

Barr, an outspoken supporter of President Donald Trump, was abruptly fired from her own show “Roseanne” — which had just been brought back to television and earned monster ratings — after she put out a tweet that some deemed to be racist.

The tweet targeted former Obama aide Valerie Jarrett.

Barr said Jarrett was a cross between the “Muslim brotherhood and ‘Planet of the Apes.'” Considering Jarrett is black, there was immediate backlash against the tweet. Barr apologized multiple times for the tweet and insisted she did not know Jarrett’s race at the time.

She said her tweet was more of a criticism of Jarrett’s foreign policies.

Yet ABC fired Barr from the successful, and politically unbiased, show despite her apology. Barr eventually even signed away all financial and creative rights to the very show she had created. Still, this was not enough. The media and fellow celebrities smeared her as a racist. Her apologies and reparations meant nothing to anybody.

Cut to Jussie Smollett. The “Empire” star and outspoken critic of Trump came out with a story weeks ago saying he was physically attacked by two white men wearing Make America Great Again hats in Chicago in the early morning.

He claimed the men yelled, “MAGA country!” while attacking him. He even said the men put a noose around his neck.

Despite Smollett’s story changing several times, he wasn’t questioned all that much. Liberal politicians and celebrities immediately threw their support behind the actor. He even landed a cushy, softball interview on “Good Morning America” about the alleged attack.

Related: Five Celebrities Who Owe Apologies to Trump and His Supporters About the Jussie Smollett Case

Smollett has now been charged by police with disorderly conduct and filing a false police report. He continues to insist on his innocence through his lawyers, but Chicago police have said they believe Smollett faked the entire attack because he was dissatisfied with his salary on “Empire.”

Police allege the actor paid two Nigerian brothers who were extras on “Empire” to carry out the “attack.” They also allege Smollett gave himself injuries. There is also now video footage of the brothers buying masks and rope for a noose before the attack.

Smollett has not been fired from “Empire.” Many celebrities continue to defend his crumbling account of events.

Others simply refuse to acknowledge the possibility that this man likely faked a hate crime.

There is no world where a bad joke tweet measures up to faking an evil hate crime. The difference in the treatment of Smollett compared to the treatment of Barr by mainstream Hollywood is disgusting — and shows clear as daylight that this is an industry willing to forgive just about anything, as long as someone is on the “right side.”

Think about it: In this current environment, all it takes for someone to lose everything they’ve worked for over a long period of time is … a tweet.

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This piece originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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