ABC’s hit sitcom Roseanne was ripped as a “racist” show over its Muslim neighbors episode by Late Night With Seth Meyers writer Amber Ruffin on this week’s show.
Ruffin went on a rampage against the sitcom during her “Amber’s Minute of Fury” segment. She ranted against the May 8 Roseanne episode, entitled “Meet the Neighbors,” where the Connor family became familiar with their new Muslim neighbors.
“Roseanne is back, and better than ever, at being racist,” Ruffin deadpanned. “So, in this tired-ass episode, she has Muslim neighbors, and she thinks they’re terrorists until they give her their WiFi password and then she decides they’re okay and saves them from a different racist person, proving that she is no longer racist.”
But, according to Ruffin, “this episode was poison.”
The writer complained that the Muslim neighbors had to “prove that they were one of the good ones” to Roseanne even though they had a right to be mean to her.
“What would have happened in this episode if they had been mean to her, as was their right to do? She’d have called the cops, and they’d have gone to jail. That’s what the fuck what! And that’s what’s wrong with this episode — the minorities had to prove themselves to her. That’s a dangerous mentality, and it isn’t limited to Roseanne.”
Ruffin went on to relate several recent stories where white people called the police on minorities, one of which was a story of a white woman who called police on a black woman at an Airbnb because the black woman wasn’t friendly enough.
“What world does this neighbor live in? One where there’s only two kinds of people — people who wave, and burglars?” Ruffin asked.
Ruffin’s second incident was when a woman called police on a pair of native Americans.
“A white woman called police in two native American teenagers who were taking a college tour because she didn’t think they looked like they belonged there,” Ruffin explained.
“They’re native Americans standing in America!” she yelled. “They’re the only people who do belong in there.”
Interestingly, the African American Ruffin then screamed that white people should “get back on the Mayflower and go home.”
As she wrapped up her segment, Ruffin went off on an extended rant about slavery:
“White people call the police when we’re not polite. But politeness is not the rent we pay to live in this country. Slavery was, and we paid that in full … It is asking too much of black people to live under all of this oppression and also make you feel comfortable.”
Ruffin ended with a slam on President Donald Trump saying “I just can’t put my finger on it” as to why these racist incidents are happening. Then a photo of President Trump was flashed on the screen to which Ruffin then said, “Oh, yes I can.”
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.
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