Rosie O’Donnell continues to be one of Donald Trump’s biggest critics, but things just took a more personal turn. (Photo: Getty Images)
It’s no secret that Rosie O’Donnell hates Donald Trump, but she insists that she wasn’t trolling the president-elect when she shared a YouTube video speculating that his 10-year-old son has autism. She has since gone public with her own daughter’s recent diagnosis with the developmental disorder and said that she reposted the clip because she found it “educational and informational.”
The outspoken comedian’s latest Trump drama started Tuesday when she tweeted a viral video, which has more than 3 million views, speculating that Barron Trump has autism, based on some of his mannerisms. The piece, which has a positive, antibullying tone, is informative, as it talks about various symptoms of the disorder, but it is completely speculative, based on brief snippets of footage of the elementary-school kid with his famous father. The future president has never said that his youngest has autism. In fact, Melania Trump has threatened to file a lawsuit against the person who originally posted the video. (For what it’s worth, the video’s creator, James Hunter, told Gossip Copthat he “never meant to hurt” the Trumps and “just wanted to bring light to the autism epidemic.”)
Along with the video, O’Donnell wrote, “Barron Trump Autistic? if so — what amazing opportunity to bring attention to the AUTISM epidemic,” and it immediately drew criticism. That backlash caused her to respond, “Not my movie clip — lots of us — who raise autistic children notice many things many would miss … somethings felt familiar #NOshameAUTISM.” (In yet another post, O’Donnell again tried to show that she has no malicious intent toward Barron, describing him as “truly angelic — beautiful like ivanka,” whom she had that awkward run-in with in NYC recently.)
Perhaps feeling that the 140-character limit wasn’t allowing her to get her points across, O’Donnell took to her website on Sunday to share one of her poems elaborating on the Barron drama — and clarifying what she meant by “lots of us who raise autistic children.”
“Here is how it went down / my 3.5 yr old daughter dakota / was diagnosed in september / with HFA — high functioning autism,” the 54-year-old former View co-host wrote. “i have been immersed in that world/reality since / learning — reading — asking questions / it’s all autism — all the time / for the newly diagnosed / as we try to grab onto / anything to keep us standing the knowledge we r not alone / there r others living this too.”
Rosie O’Donnell’s youngest daughter, Dakota, was diagnosed with high-functioning autism in September. (Photo: Instagram)
She continued: “When i saw the anti bullying video / that mentioned barron / it spoke to the symptoms many ASD kids have / it was educational and informational / these symptoms so many do not understand / i thought — how amazing IF / IF it is true / IF it is true / i tweeted from my heart / it would help so much with the autism epidemic.”
O’Donnell went on to reiterate that while she has been feuding with Trump for years, she has “no ill will for his children — or any children. If u knew anything about me, u would know that.” And, of course, she worked in a good dig at Trump, calling him a “madman who thinks OUR country is his” and urging people to “stand tall” against him.
Dakota is O’Donnell’s fifth — and youngest — child. She adopted the outgoing, jovial girl, whom she refers to as Dax, in January 2013 while married to Michelle Rounds. She now has full custody of the nursery-school kid, she has said on her website.
When it comes to parenting, O’Donnell has handled quite a few challenges. You’ll remember her impassioned plea for the return of her teen daughter Chelsea (with ex Kelli Carpenter), whom she said “lives with mental illness,” after the girl ran away in the summer of 2015. While that part of their story ultimately had a happy ending, Chelsea, who has said she suffers from “depression and bad anxiety,” has additional problems that are are ongoing. The 19-year-old was hospitalized for a reported overdose in September. The relationship between the women runs hot and cold.
And in 2010, O’Donnell opened up to the New York Times about her now nearly 17-year-old son, Blake, whom she adopted during her marriage to Carpenter. She revealed that he has an auditory processing disorder that “affected his whole world” and cut him “off from society,” leading to strain at home.
O’Donnell is also mom to son Parker, 21, and daughter Vivienne, 14.
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LawyerLady
I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you.
OK - even IF Barron Trump had autism, does Rosie really think SHE is the person who should be making that public?
Furthermore, it's as if she's hoping the kid has autism because it would be great to bring awareness to autism and good for her child. Who wishes that on a child?
This was so inappropriate, it's mind boggling.
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LawyerLady
I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you.
Exactly. Surely someone in Rosey's life could have stepped up and warned her that given the vinegar interactions she has had with trump, that this would not bode well for her. Now she is trying to back step claiming innocence even tho it smacks of her trying to troll trump? I dont buy it.
We play a game with the kids called Loaded Questions. You read a question from a card, everyone writes down their answer, and the person that read the question has to guess who said what.
One time, we got on a kick, and everyone was answering "Rosie O'Donnell's fat a$$". We could not stop laughing.
Where would you hate to be trapped?: Rosie O'Donnell's fat a$$
What is something you only need one of?: Rosie O'Donnell's fat a$$
What is something that makes you gag?: Rosie O'Donnell's fat a$$
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America guarantees equal opportunity, not equal outcome...
unfortunately some people will just not stop, they continue to do whatever they can to remain in the spotlight. Her 15 minutes of fame has passed....someone needs to Tweet her that!
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~~Four Wheels Move the Body~~ ~~ Two Wheels Move the Soul~~
“You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I'll rise!” ― Maya Angelou
First, is she still in the country? She said she was leaving.
Second, there is no way to diagnose from a video clip.
Third, she needs to shut up.
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Future First Lady Melania Trump is taking action to remove a video from the Internet that questions whether her 10-year-old son Barron is autistic — and has slammed Rosie O’Donnell as a “bully” for sharing the video on social media.
On November 11, YouTube user James Hunter posted a video entitled, “Is Barron Trump Autistic? #StopTheBullying,” which has since been viewed nearly four million times. The video speculates that President-elect Donald Trump’s son could be autistic because he was making “strange movements in his seat” and exhibited “anti-social” behavior while onstage during his father’s acceptance speech on Election Night.
The video had received little attention until last week, when comedian Rosie O’Donnell — who has feuded openly with Donald Trump for years — shared it on her Twitter account.
According to TMZ, an attorney retained by Melania Trump has sent a letter to the video’s creator ordering him to take it down or else face legal action.
In a statement to Gossip Cop on Monday, Hunter — who claims he himself is autistic — said he “never meant to hurt” the Trump family and that he had intended for the video to combat bullying.
“I was just sending it privately to people who were bullying him to explain to them that Barron might be autistic, and that’s it isn’t okay to bully him for it, because I know what it’s like to be bullied for being autistic. But then Rosie O’Donnell shared it and it blew up,” Hunter told the outlet.
Hunter indicated he would take the video down if asked, however the video remained active on YouTube as of Tuesday afternoon.
The letter from Melania Trump’s attorney, Charles J. Harder, claims the video actually made the bullying of her son worse, particularly after O’Donnell tweeted it out to her nearly 1 million followers.
“The video allegedly seeks to ‘stop the bullying’ of Barron Trump. Not true,” the letter reads, according to TMZ. “The video did instigate further bullying by Rosie O’Donnell and others.”
O’Donnell’s tweet set off a firestorm of controversy, with many social media users lashing out at the 54-year-old comedian for spreading rumors about the health of Trump’s 10-year-old son.
Meanwhile, Hunter says he’s “been in contact with Melania Trump’s lawyer. This video will be deleted in 24 hours and I will publish a full retraction and apology to Melania and Barron Trump.”
Update: Hunter pulled the video in question from YouTube on Tuesday afternoon and posted a video apology to the Trump family.
“It was incredibly irresponsible of me to diagnose Barron Trump using a selection of misleading videos,” he said in a statement. “My video was originally intended as an anti-bullying video, as I myself suffer from autism and wanted to educate people. Unfortunately, I completely misdiagnosed a person and ended up making a video that was false, defamatory and malicious.”
“I retract every single statement I made in that horrendous video, and want to sincerely apologize to the Trump family, especially to Melania and Barron Trump,” he added. “I wish your family nothing but good luck, safety, and love, as you prepare to become the next First Family of the United States.”
This is what the Left does. Oh, i am concerned about him being "bullied", so she decides to send out a viral video to mock him! Uh huh. Oh, but SHE is taking the high road here. Sure.
OK - even IF Barron Trump had autism, does Rosie really think SHE is the person who should be making that public?
Furthermore, it's as if she's hoping the kid has autism because it would be great to bring awareness to autism and good for her child. Who wishes that on a child?
OK - even IF Barron Trump had autism, does Rosie really think SHE is the person who should be making that public?
Furthermore, it's as if she's hoping the kid has autism because it would be great to bring awareness to autism and good for her child. Who wishes that on a child?
This was so inappropriate, it's mind boggling
This!
I just keep agreeing with you LL today!
I hardly know you, yet, Lenni, but you seem like a wise woman.
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LawyerLady
I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you.