Former Rubio campaign aide compares Obama to ‘Curious George’

Days after actress Roseanne Barr drew fire for comparing a black woman to an ape, a former Republican state legislator is now facing scrutiny for comparing former President Obama to a cartoon monkey. 

In a since-deleted Facebook post Thursday, former Broward County, Florida, lawmaker and campaign aide to Republican Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), Susan Goldstein compared Obama to “Curious George.” The comments were first reported by the Miami New Times.

In the post, Goldstein expressed frustrations about Barr’s self-titled show being canceled in response to the racist comment she made about the woman, a former Obama adviser, on Tuesday.

“And I truly think Obama resembles the Curious George cartoon, who I think is an adorable character,” Goldstein said in a since-deleted comment. “Curious George that is. That is what my eyes see. And I am not racist, and there is not mean-spirited intent in my observation. But I can’t say it. Double standard.”

{mosads}

Goldstein insisted that her comments were not racist, and that the comments were “among friends.” 

“This is why people hate the press,” Goldstein told a reporter. “All I was trying to say is that I don’t get why this ‘comedian excuse’ works for some and not others,” she said, referring to former “Roseanne” writer Wanda Sykes’s comparison of President Trump to an orangutan.

Goldstein, now a Tallahassee lobbyist, rebuffed the paper’s questions as to whether she was aware of the racial undertones inherent in the comparison, and accused the paper of trying to smear her because she’s a Republican. 

“I don’t come from a racist society, so that never occurred to me,” she said. “I didn’t compare all black people to apes. I said Barack Obama looked like Curious George. I also called him cute!”

“Roseanne” was pulled off the air Tuesday after a swift decision by ABC’s top executive. Barr has maintained that the comment was not racist, and said she was on a powerful sleep aid when she tweeted the remark.