Update 8:01 a.m. EDT May 31: Trump took to Twitter early Thursday, again asking why he hadn't received an apology from Bob Iger, chairman and CEO of Disney, which owns ABC, claiming the network has "offended millions of people."
"Iger, where is my call of apology," Trump tweeted. "You and ABC have offended millions of people, and they demand a response. How is Brian Ross doing? He tanked the market with an ABC lie, yet no apology. Double Standard!"
Iger, where is my call of apology? You and ABC have offended millions of people, and they demand a response. How is Brian Ross doing? He tanked the market with an ABC lie, yet no apology. Double Standard!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2018
Ross, an ABC News investigative reporter, was suspended without pay for four weeks late last year after he erroneously reported that former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn planned to testify that Trump, "as a candidate for president, told him to contact Russians," CNN reported.
"We deeply regret and apologize for the serious error we made yesterday," ABC said at the time. "The reporting conveyed by Brian Ross during the special report had not been fully vetted through our editorial standards process."
Original report:
President Donald Trump on Wednesday responded to reports that ABC canceled “Roseanne” after the show’s star, Roseanne Barr, posted a tweet widely deemed as racist.
Bob Iger of ABC called Valerie Jarrett to let her know that “ABC does not tolerate comments like those” made by Roseanne Barr. Gee, he never called President Donald J. Trump to apologize for the HORRIBLE statements made and said about me on ABC. Maybe I just didn’t get the call?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2018
“Bob Iger of ABC called Valerie Jarrett to let her know that ‘ABC does not tolerate comments like those’ made by Roseanne Barr,” the president wrote. “Gee, he never called President Donald J. Trump to apologize for the HORRIBLE statements made and said about me on ABC. Maybe I just didn’t get the call?”
Barr was heavily criticized Tuesday after she tweeted that Valerie Jarrett, a black woman who served as a top aide for President Barack Obama, was the product of the “Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes.” She later deleted the tweet and apologized for her comment, which ABC network officials condemned as “abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values.”
The network announced the decision to cancel “Roseanne” amid the uproar.
Iger, who serves as chairman and CEO of Disney, the company that owns the ABC television network, said Tuesday in a tweet that “there was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing.”
From Channing Dungey, President of ABC Entertainment: "Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show."
— Robert Iger (@RobertIger) May 29, 2018
There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing.
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