The Roseanne reboot premiered on Tuesday night to incredible ratings, and was already renewed for another season, but not everyone is celebrating. While the show brought back familiar characters and more conservative politics to the mainstream media, it also unearthed a lot of controversy. Roseanne Barr has been a vocal Donald Trump supporter these past few years, but sometimes her support has extended into fanning the flames of defunct conspiracies and posting divisive tweets. However, rewind even further, and there's another relic of Barr's that has people equally inflamed: a photo of her dressed as Hitler holding a tray of burned gingerbread cookies with the title "That Oven Feeling."
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throwback thursday pic.twitter.com/PBlSF7uCE8
— Josh Nathan-Kazis (@joshnathankazis) March 29, 2018
In a 2009 interview with Jewish humor magazine Heeb, the actress appeared as Hitler in a series of photos. Barr herself is Jewish, and requested to appear as Hitler, but the story was greeted with distaste both initially and now that it's resurfaced, with Vanity Fair's Kurt Eichenwald's tweet about the photo and his Jewish family's history with the Holocaust.
The photo is real. @therealroseanne burned cookies that looked like people in an oven while dressed as Adolph Hitler. I am actually crying. I think of the anguish of my family. I think of this little boy, Antosh, my sons' great uncle, murdered at 11. One of Roseanne's cookies. pic.twitter.com/rEWWk6ezfW
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) March 29, 2018
She certainly isn't the only comedian to portray Hitler — not even the only Jewish comedian — but in light of Barr's other controversial behavior, many view this as a normalization of Trumpian rhetoric.
Argh. Hit show on ABC. we have reached peak normalization. pic.twitter.com/OnEmeh3oxW
— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) March 29, 2018
For instance, Chrissy Teigen posted a screenshot of a now-deleted tweet of Barr appearing to agree with a disproven conspiracy theory that accuses Parkland survivor David Hogg of giving a Nazi salute (it was actually a raised fist). Some people are going as far as calling for a boycott of the show, while Barr has taken to Twitter to defend herself.
Diversity of Opinion is part of Diversity.
— Roseanne Barr (@therealroseanne) March 30, 2018
"Diversity of Opinion is part of Diversity," she tweeted, later adding, "hating ppl for not agreeing with your approach to ending hatred is not cool."
While the show itself strives to be less inflammatory with its politics, it's hard to not let the actions of its main actress taint its goal of finding a common ground.
Refinery29 has reached out to Roseanne Barr for comment. ABC declined to comment.
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