Rosie O’Donnell has responded to backlash over her sharing a video on Twitter last week suggesting Donald Trump’s youngest son, Barron, might have autism.
On Saturday, the comedian and actress posted an explanation in the form of a poem on her website, in which she explains her reasoning for sharing the video of Barron.
In the poem, she touches on her own daughter’s autism diagnosis and notes, “I tweeted from my heart.”“When i saw the anti bullying video/ that mentioned Barron/ it spoke to the symptoms many ASD kids have/ it was educational and informational,” the poem reads, using the abbreviation for autism spectrum disorder.
While O’Donnell has called Trump an array of unfortunate names, she maintained that her decision to share the video was not meant as a jab at the GOP president-elect, though she admitted “he does trigger me in all ways.”
“I have no ill will for his children ― or any children ― and if u knew anything about me ― u would know that,” she wrote. (You can read the poem in its entirety here.)
O’Donnell shared the video in question last Tuesday, posing the question, “Barron Trump Autistic?” According to the clip’s description on YouTube, the video is meant to encourage people to “stop bullying [Barron] for his ‘strange’ behavior.”
Barron Trump Autistic? if so - what an amazing opportunity to bring attention to the AUTISM epidemic https://t.co/Acgy1Qxyqi via @YouTube
— Rosie (@Rosie)
The president-elect, who has a lengthy history of engaging with and/or insulting O’Donnell on social media, has yet to respond to her tweet or poem.
The Huffington Post has reached out to representatives for Trump and will update this post accordingly.
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