Rosie O'Donnell on Thursday told
MSNBC's Thomas Roberts that the media has contributed to the problem
of anti-gay bullying.
“Bullying in our children's schools
really is a reflection of what we are showing them in the media,”
O'Donnell said.
She argued that in the 70s “there
seemed to be a moral fiber in the programming executives' souls –
so that they wouldn't put on things that hurt people.”
“Then in the 90s, you come home from
school – you're a little child – you turn on the TV and you see
people who look like mommy and daddy physically beating each other
up. Like there became a national agenda of bullying. And … some
of the 24-hours news networks seem to take pride in the fact that
they bully people.”
O'Donnell added that gay rights is a
new issue that came along after the premiere of NBC's Will &
Grace.
“When I was on TV … nobody was
asking you if you were gay or not. You know, nobody ever asked me in
the entire run of my show if I was gay.”
“But you know gay is okay. And as
more people are able to live that truth … the easier it's going to
be for all of us,” she added. (The video is embedded in the right
panel of this page.)
(Related: Tracy
Morgan tells Rosie O'Donnell that he'd be okay with a gay son.)