BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – Tom Arnold is not one to mince words.
The actor had plenty of outrageous and inflammatory things to say about President Donald Trump at the summer Television Critics Association press tour Thursday, while promoting his new Viceland series "The Hunt for the Trump Tapes with Tom Arnold" (premiering Sept. 1810:30 EDT/PDT).
He also had choice words — but only a few — about his ex-wife, Roseanne Barr, who was recently was fired from ABC's hit revival of "Roseanne" after comparing former Obama aide Valerie Jarrett to an "ape" on Twitter (a spin-off called "The Conners" will return this fall without Barr).
Arnold wouldn't speculate how Barr would react to his Viceland show, in which he tries to unearth supposed tapes of Trump saying racist or otherwise damaging statements, but he did criticized "white people's" response to the tweet, saying that it was wrong for them to worry about what would happen to Barr, rather than the racist comment itself.
"It's always about (white people) feeling better. When Roseanne did the monkey thing with Valerie Jarrett people were like, ‘Well, is she going to be OK?’" he said. "I was like, ‘Whoa, that was racist.’ And here are black kids that have to deal with that every single day."
Arnold also vehemently declared that he believes Trump to be a racist, and suggested that many would continue to excuse the president for that behavior, even if Arnold is able to unearth a tape he claims exists of Trump using the N-word.
"Fifty percent of the country knows he’s racist," Arnold said. "Hearing the N-word, I think we’re going to have to do that, too. Black people know he’s racist, I know he’s racist, but there are some people that are like, even after they hear it, they’re going to be like, ‘Yeah, but that’s a one-time thing.’ Well, how about five times? ‘Well, that’s just five-time thing. Everybody does that.’ … It’s all bull (expletive).”
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