YouTube has taken down the clip of a podcast in which Roseanne Barr sarcastically said ‘nobody died in the Holocaust’ and that it ‘should happen’, as part of a convoluted joke about YouTube censorship.
Barr on June 14 told Theo Von’s podcast ‘the real truth’ was that President Biden won the 2020 election, claiming there were ’81 million voters in 36 counties’.
But in a strange effort to make a point, she continued: ‘There’s such a thing as the truth and facts, and we have to stick to them.
‘And nobody died in the Holocaust, either, that’s the truth.
‘It should happen — six million Jews should die right now, because they cause all the problems in the world. But it never happened.’
Barr’s son and Von both insisted it was sarcasm.
But on Friday, YouTube removed the clip, describing it as hate speech and banning Von from uploading content for a week. The ban came a day after the comedian defended her remarks saying she does believe that the Holocaust happened and that the outrage surrounding her remarks was due to ‘satanic mind control.’
The June 14 clip of Roseanne Barr on Theo Von’s show has now been taken down
Controversial comedian Roseanne Barr, 70, made the comments on a recent podcast with Theo Von – saying that ‘six million Jews should die right now because they cause all the problems in the world’
If Von’s channel breaks YouTube policies against hate speech again in the next 90 days it will be blocked for two weeks, and in the instance of a third violation the channel will be shut down.
Jack Malon, YouTube spokesperson, told Variety: ‘We issued a strike to Theo Von’s channel for violating our hate speech policy, which prohibits content promoting violence against individuals or groups based on attributes such as race or religion.
‘As a result of this strike, the channel is prohibited from uploading content to YouTube for one week.’
Barr on Thursday defended herself in a YouTube interview, saying the world is ‘under such Satanic mind control.’ She insisted she was joking about denying the Holocaust, pointing out she grew up in a building shared by Holocaust survivors.
But she said she was also joking about Joe Biden having won the election.
‘I’m always trying to break through, to get a little God in there, get a little light in there,’ she said.
‘Everything they do is stupid. Everything they say is stupid. Everything they brought against Trump they just lose, lose, lose – it’s hysterics.’
The disgraced comedian, 70, who is herself ‘100 percent Jewish’, sparked both intense criticism and support with her Holocaust remarks.
Jewish group The Anti-Defamation League said even as a joke ‘comments about Jews and the Holocaust are reprehensible and irresponsible’.
Von posing with Barr after recording a podcast together
Barr, smoking a cigarette, said on the podcast: ‘Nobody wants to hear the real truth. They’re horrified of it. They’d rather go with bulls**t – it’s easier.’
She then claimed social media organizations were ‘mandating’ what is truth and what is not.
Theo Von, on whose podcast Roseanne was featured, said the anti-Semitic comments were ‘sarcasm and satire’
‘Don’t you dare say anything, that’s where you’ll be off YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and all the other ones,’ she added. ‘There’s such a thing as the truth and facts and we have to stick to it.’
Offering Von examples of such ‘mandated truth’, Barr said: And nobody died in the Holocaust either. That’s the truth.
‘It should happen. Six million Jews should die right now because they cause all the problems in the world, but it never happened!
‘It never happened!’ she reiterated.
Appearing somewhat uncomfortable, Von then pivoted the conversation asking Barr: ‘You’re part Jewish right?’
‘I’m all Jewish – 100 percent,’ she confirmed.
She then went on to talk about how the Jews ‘control Hollywood.’
‘A lot of Hollywood is Jewish, yeah? They started Hollywood,’ Von noted.
Bar responded: ‘Just like rap, black people started rap. So I wouldn’t go over there and go: ”All these black people go on Saturday Night Live like Dave Chappelle’.
‘I’m just saying a lot of black people are in control of rap. Hello?
‘Well, you went there. You tried to get in show business. Of course it’s Jewish.
‘But people should be glad that it’s Jewish too, because if Jews were not controlling Hollywood, all you’d have was f**ing fishing shows.’
Barr’s sentiments have since been branded anti-Semitic, reprehensible and irresponsible.
Some people have pointed out that it was indeed dry humor as she was comparing Holocaust denial to denying that the 2020 election was stolen. Both issues are comments you aren’t allowed to say online without being canceled, it’s insinuated
Roseanne Barr (front centre) is pictured in 1989 in hit show Roseanne with co-star John Goodman (front right)
Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said: ‘Sarcasm or not, Roseanne Barr’s comments about Jews and the Holocaust are reprehensible and irresponsible. This isn’t funny.
‘And shame on Theo Von for letting it go unchallenged and instead diving into conspiracy theories about Jews and Hollywood.’
Others – including her son Jake Pentland and Von himself – have doubled down and stated she was simply being sarcastic rather than anti-Semitic.
Von wrote on Twitter: ‘This Roseanne Barr clip was sarcasm folks. A clip taken out of a long sarcastic rant she had during our chat.
‘Can we not recognize sarcasm anymore?
‘Here is the full clip of Roseanne Barr obviously using sarcasm and satire. She is a mensch and one of the funniest people I’ve ever met.’
Jake Pentland, Roseanne’s son, also hit back and told TMZ: ‘We are embarrassed that people are stupid enough not to recognize Roseanne is being sarcastic. We think it’s funny that people are so stupid.
‘Let’s stop doing this clickbait s**t, we need to focus on big problems in America. Focusing on out-of-context clips is what morons do.’
In 2018, Roseanne faced intense criticism after tweeting against President Obama White House adviser Valerie Jarrett, who is black. The comic compared her to an ape.
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