The New York Daily News confirmed that Rosie O’Donnell’s publicist is Cindi Berger.

Ms. Berger, of course, released the following statement in response to Rosie’s racist skit:

“I certainly hope that one day they will be able to grasp her humor.”

The New York Daily News characterizes this statement as “unapologetic,” and, we and many others agree: and find that quite disturbing in and of itself.

Now, we’ve already discussed the many problems with Rosie’s racist anti-Chinese ching chong fun, but, one thing is now quite evident: whether Rosie O’Donnell meant anything racist by this ching chong skit or not is almost beside the point now. What is evident is that the feelings of many actual living human beings have been hurt by this.

It has brought up many painful memories in Asian folks. It seems a lot of white folks have a really hard time understanding this, and, that is understandable to an extent: empathy can be challenging, because the individual didn’t have the actual experience of being six-years-old with slanty eyes and surrounded on a playground with a bunch of little white kids chanting “CHING CHONG! CHING CHONG!”

So, yes, I can appreciate that if the individual didn’t live through that experience, she could ignorantly do her ching chong thing on national television, and, that doesn’t make her any sort of terrible person. It just makes her another white lady who doesn’t get it.

But here’s where I’m confused.

She’s still not getting it, and, now she ought to… Whether she meant anything mean-spiritedly racist or not, is now, as indicated, besides the point.

The only way that she’s not aware of the many hurt feelings her Chinese impression caused is if she’s been living in a sound-proof bubble the past week.

I think it’s safe to say that Rosie O’Donnell has read some web reaction and seen some news reports and maybe even come across the name of City Councilman John Liu (D-Queens) who wrote to Barbara Walters about the “raw nerve in the community” Rosie hit. I mean… this isn’t top-secret, classified information. The information is right in the New York Daily News!

So, let’s presume that Rosie didn’t mean any racist offense. And, I don’t think she did. I think it was simply ignorance in the truest sense of the word. But, I don’t see how Rosie could right now, the afternoon of December 12, 2006, be ignorant of the feelings of so many people she’s hurt. No, I don’t believe she could be unaware of the results of her actions.

And, she should apologize for that: for the feelings that have been hurt as a result of her behavior.

Are you reading along too Cindi?

This is the statement to issue:

Rosie didn’t mean to hurt anyone’s feelings with her Chinese impression on a recent episode of The View. Rosie’s a comedian, and, she thought it was funny. She still finds it funny. However, she has become aware of the many people whose feelings have been hurt as a result of her impression, and she finds nothing funny in that. She feels terrible about that. And, she’s very sorry. Rosie loves to make people laugh. She doesn’t like to make people feel bad. Ever. And, she’s sorry.

Technorati Tags: Rosie O’Donnell, Cindi Berger, publicist, publicist confirmation, The View, Barbara Walters, Chinese impression, ching chong, sorry, apology, Chinese, racist, racism, feelings, hurt feelings, empathy, comedy, comedian, laugh, funny, racist skit, race, racism, racist, New York Daily News

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