Actor Tom Arnold had an apt comparison for the outfit his ex-wife, comedian turned MAGA conspiracy theorist Roseanne Barr, wore during a drunken rant she delivered while partying at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.
Barr was filmed wearing beads, a turban and a flowing dress, wine glass in hand, urging people to "drop out of college" because professors are "devil-worshipping Democrat donors." She said she attended the event to support former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who lost her own bid for office after backing Trump's lies about the 2020 election.
Through slurred speech, she proceeded to attack higher education and spout QAnon-like conspiracy theories, accusing academics of being devil worshippers and blood drinkers:
"So I’m just going to say to you, please drop out of college, because it’s going to ruin your lives."
"Do me a favor, drop out, they don’t teach you nothing good, uh, email me or Twitter me or whatever you call me, and I’ll help you with your life, but you gotta get out of college, because it isn’t nothing but a bunch of devil-worshipping, baby blood-drinking, Democrat donors.”
You can hear what she said in the video below.
While Barr went viral mostly for her remarks, Arnold brought attention to her gaudy and over-the-top outfit, which he remarked on with a nod to one of the most notable movies from Hollywood's Golden Age.
He said:
"'Sunset Boulevard' remake looks awful."
You can see his post below.
Sunset Boulevard is widely considered director Billy Wilder's most enduring, classic film.
The darkly comedic film noir stars William Holden in the role of aspiring screenwriter Joe Gillis, while Gloria Swanson plays Norma Desmond, a former silent-film star who lives in a decaying mansion and delusional realm where she harbors grand aspirations of reclaiming her glory days on the silver screen.
The costumes Swanson wore for the role perfectly capture this aesthetic.
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
It definitely looked like Barr was channeling Norma, and people thought Arnold's cutting observation was hilarious.
The character of Norma Desmond is synonymous with Wilder's scathing critique of the way Hollywood can chew people up and promptly spit them out; Norma's refusal to accept that her fame has vanished is a consequence of Hollywood's move into talkies, a technological advancement that marked the abrupt end of the silent film era.
Swanson's Academy Award-nominated performance is modeled at least in part on her own career trajectory. Once among the most bankable stars of the 1910s and 1920s, her professional decline in the 1930s influenced her pivot into political activism, fashion, and public appearances at movie theaters in addition to radio and television.
But unlike Swanson, Barr has largely failed to revive her career after she was booted from the reboot of her classic sitcom Roseanne for racist remarks against Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett.
Barr blamed her viral tweet in which she referred to Jarrett, who is Black, as "Planet of the Apes," on her Ambien prescription. Roseanne was canceled as a result of the scandal and an unrepentant Barr, no stranger to courting controversy, fell deeper into the far-right.
Since then, Barr has periodically made headlines for promoting baseless lies and conspiracy theories disseminated by QAnon, whose believers allege Democrats are part of a Satan-worshipping, baby-eating global pedophile ring that conspired against Trump during his time in office.
