Trump Suggests Actress Debra Messing Should Be Fired Over McCarthyism, Attack on His Supporters

Debra Messing attends event at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York City on May 15, 2019. John Lamparski/Getty Images

President Donald Trump has again called out “Will & Grace” actress Debra Messing following her effort to have a list of attendees at an upcoming fundraiser for the president be published.

“Bad ‘actress’ Debra The Mess Messing is in hot water. She wants to create a ’Blacklist' of Trump supporters, & is being accused of McCarthyism,” Trump wrote on Twitter on Sept. 5.

Messing prompted intense backlash throughout the week after she and her co-star, Eric McCormack, encouraged a media outlet to publish a list of people attending Trump’s fundraiser, saying that “the public has a right to know.” Meanwhile, McCormack requested the names of the attendees “so the rest of us can be clear about who we don’t wanna work with.”

The pair were criticized for their posts, including from “The View” host Whoopi Goldberg, who said, “your idea of who you don’t want to work with is your personal business. Do not encourage people to print out lists because the next list that comes out, your name will be on, and then people will be coming after you.”

Messing and McCormack subsequently attempted to explain their actions, saying that their posts had been “misinterpreted.” The 51-year-old actress posted a message from McCormack on Sept. 3, which said, “I absolutely do not support blacklists or discrimination of any kind.”

Along with her attack on Trump fundraiser attendees, Messing was also called out for endorsing a post of an Alabama church sign that called black Trump supporters mentally ill, while the other side of the sign reportedly accused white Trump supporters of being racist, according to Fox News. The action caused #RacistDebraMessing to trend on the social media platform, prompting an apology from the actress.

She then attempted to explain her actions in a series of Twitter posts by putting the spotlight back on the president and accusing him of being racist in a post on Sept. 4.

“NUMBER 1– I apologized for liking that church sign. I said I regret it. I shud have thought before recklessly suppprting. You won’t accept this but black people are targeted by Trump’s GOP for voter supression. Charlottesville was about Trump supporters hating POC and Jews,” she wrote.

She continued, “THAT is where my support of a sign at a southern black church came from. The use of the term “mentally ill” was wrong & hurtful. NUMBER 2 I NEVER NOR WOULD I EVER call for a blacklist of anyone for any reason. The info is publicly available.”

“I as a consumer want to know where MY Money is going when I pay for entertainment. Just as you have the right to not watch W&G bc I don’t support Trump, I have the right to not go see (pay for) a movie with someone supporting babies in cages. It is First Amendment. Information, Knowledge. That is how we make decisions whether to see a movie or whom to vote for. Transparency is needed. Again, the lists are available to the public. There is nothing threatening about asking politely for information,” she added.

Trump also took the opportunity on Sept. 5, to highlight Messing’s conduct in his Twitter post. “[She] Is also being accused of being a Racist because of the terrible things she said about blacks and mental illness,” he wrote.

The president then compared Messing to Roseanne Barr—one of the few conservatives in Hollywood who is also an outspoken supporter of Trump—suggesting that the “Will & Grace” actress’s fate should match that of Barr.

Barr was fired by ABC last year after she stoked controversy on Twitter for comparing ex-Obama adviser Valerie Jarett to “Planet of the Apes.” The post was widely viewed as racist and Barr immediately apologized for the post.

“If Roseanne Barr said what she did, even being on a much higher rated show, she would have been thrown off television,” Trump wrote in his Sept. 5 post. “Will Fake News NBC allow a McCarthy style Racist to continue? ABC fired Roseanne. Watch the double standard!”