Van Jones Blames ‘Moral Collapse’ Inside White House for ‘Rank Bigot’ Roseanne

Tuesday on CNN’s “Newsroom,” former Obama administration green jobs czar and network contributor Van Jones blamed the ”moral collapse inside of our political system” for Roseanne Barr’s derogatory tweet about former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett.

Jones said, “Some things apparently are more important than money, even to a big corporation like ABC-Disney, and that is very heartening because we’ve been in a moral freefall for at least three years. To my point of view, one of the great things is — it is, in fact, important that red-state America be better represented in the media. But they can have a better representative than a rank bigot who is a conspiracy theorist and who is trashing good people in this country. Valerie Jarrett served with distinction and through some of the toughest moments of American history, whether you’re talking about the great recession, whether you are talking about Osama bin Laden, there were so many times Valerie Jarrett was there to help us to steer and steady the ship.”

He continued, “I’m ashamed to say this, I thought she was probably gonna get away with it. I was as shocked as anybody else when there was actually consequences. Consequences for racism in America? I think you’re starting to see now whether it’s Starbucks and what they did today trying to be on the better side of this conversation or ABC-Disney, it could be that this moral collapse inside of our political system, and especially inside the White House, is being counterbalanced now by people in mainstream media, mainstream corporations who say we don’t want to live in a country where decent people can be attacked for no reason with despicable terms. It not a joke. It’s not funny. It’s the dehumanization of people of color, calling us animals, referring to us as apes and animals, that has a history leading to all kinds of violence, justifying exclusion from businesses and universities. This is part of a long and nasty history and apparently, ABC-Disney doesn’t want it to be a part of our future. And I’m glad that in some places in America some things are more important than money and I’m glad.”

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