Rosie O’Donnell: Grand Jury Announcement ‘Calculated’ to Cause Riots

Rosie O’Donnell accused officials of timing the grand jury announcement in Ferguson, MO to incite riots on Tuesday’s broadcast of ABC’s “The View.”

O’Donnell started the discussion by describing the grand jury’s decision “horrifying” and “overwhelming,” while Nicole Wallace praised the “constructive” efforts of Brown’s parents, including their speech before the UN and praised Obama’s speech as “beautiful” and “extraordinary leadership.”

Rosie Perez pointed to the lack of violence among organized protests around the courthouse and said “the media really didn’t give that crowd credit”

O’Donnell then declared “why do you think they waited to announce it till 9 o’clock at night. I think that was like a calculated decision in order to incite people.” “takes everyone off of what actually happened to an 18-year-old boy in the street and puts it onto, ‘look at those horrible people rioting.’ And I think the anger of the people rioting, that’s righteous indignation and rage. And I understand it. And although it’s not necessarily productive for the cause, it is very understandable as a human being why one might react in the way so many did.” 

Perez, while not dismissing the theory completely, pointed the Rodney King verdict was announced during the day and Los Angeles was swept by massive riots.

Whoopi Goldberg then argued that whoever decided to announce the decision at night was an “idiot” but that it wasn’t calculated, and accused them of passing the buck onto the Justice Department. She also criticized first responders in Ferguson for not doing more to stop the looting.

O’Donnell then cut in to complain “they didn’t show a loop of him [Michael Brown] laying in the street for five hours and being taken away in an SUV, not an ambulance or an EMT for four and a half hours, that child, dead laid in the middle of the street they should show that on a tape for four hours.”

Goldberg then criticized the riots that occurred after the announcement, stating “you only hurt each other.” O’Donnell then called for protests like those in Selma during the Civil Rights Era, and then complained that protesters in other countries were praised while the events in Ferguson were described as riots. Perez objected, pointing out that the recent protests in Hong Kong that received media coverage were extremely peaceful.

(h/t The Wrap)

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett