Rosie O’Donnell has done it again, causing a stir on social media. This time it was for publicly pondering the question of whether or not Barron Trump is autistic.
Even after her initial comments created a massive wave of backlash, she is not backing down from her assertion.
She says that one of her children is autistic and that is the main reason she tweeted out a link to an anti-bullying video that claimed to prove that 10-year-old Barron is in fact on the spectrum.
The shared video was titled “Is Barron Trump Autistic? #StopTheBullying.” It was made by Youtuber James Hunter. Hunter used footage of Barron at his father’s fundraisers to show that the boy is, in fact, autistic.
His “evidence” consists of the little boy clapping erratically and shifting in an odd manner in his seat. At the end of the video, Hunter calls for the end of social media bullying of Barron.
O’Donnell tweeted out, “Barron Trump Autistic?” She went on to say, “If so — what an amazing opportunity to bring attention to the AUTISM epidemic.”
— Whoopi Goldberg, Rosie O’Donnell spar over racism on ‘The View’ —
https://twitter.com/Rosie/status/800939338615824384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Many of her Twitter followers thought the tweet was inappropriate and of much too personal a nature to speculate about. The fact that we are talking about a young boy doesn’t exactly make her take on things more palatable to most people.
Due to the backlash, O’Donnell decided to give a lengthy response to her haters.
“Here is how it went down – my 3.5 yr old daughter Dakota was diagnosed in September with HFA – high functioning autism,” Rosie stated.
“I have been immersed in that world/reality since learning – reading – asking questions it’s all autism – all the time for the newly diagnosed.”
O’Donnell says that parents of kids with autism “grab onto anything to keep us standing,” and knowing there are others out there going through the same thing can help people to feel less alone. She still feels that the video is educational and informational. She said, somewhat questionably, that it would be “amazing IF” Barron actually did have autism. Another comment people were not quick to get on board with.
She says that “1 in 55 kids is an epidemic.”