Former NBA star and columnist Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said Tuesday that conservative “Roseanne” fans shouldn’t get too excited about the show’s revival, arguing that the script is actually more anti-President Trump than at first glance.
After ABC’s “Roseanne” reboot last week debuted to more than 25 million viewers, Mr. Trump made a congratulatory call to the show’s star, Roseanne Barr, who is a supporter of the president on the show and in real life. Mr. Trump later touted the show’s ratings at a Cleveland rally, “not realizing that the show he’s boasting about relentlessly criticizes him and his policies more ruthlessly than almost any other program on television,” Mr. Abdul-Jabbar wrote in an op-ed for The Hollywood Reporter.
“While Will & Grace, another revival successfully reinvented for current political times, openly pontificates its anti-Trump bias, Roseanne is more subversive in its presentation of class struggles, health care, gender identity, and other issues that reflect the failures of the Trump administration,” he argued.
The former Lakers star wrote that while Ms. Barr deserves praise for her artistry, her character on the show, Roseanne Conner, lacks any substantive arguments behind her conservative leanings.
“What you will find is a powerful reflection of the oppressive daily struggles that many Americans deal with,” Mr. Abdul-Jabbar wrote. “The show doesn’t directly preach a political take on these issues, but merely by highlighting them, it makes clear to those who follow legitimate news sources that the Conners’ problems, which have existed through previous administrations, have been exasperated by the Trump administration.
“Trump’s attacks on health care, including Medicaid, have worsened the Conners’ ability to afford necessary medication,” he continued. “Trump’s support of legislation targeting the LGBTQ community will affect the Conners’ gender-fluid grandson, not just regarding clothing choices but in legitimizing public animosity against him.
“Basically, Roseanne Conners is like a student at Trump University during the investigation of fraud, still hoping her degree will mean something,” he added.
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