ABC cancels ‘Roseanne’ for racist tweet
Move comes despite Barr apology for ‘bad joke’
ABC canceled its hit reboot of “Roseanne” on Tuesday after star Roseanne Barr’s racist tweets about former Obama White House adviser Valerie Jarrett.
Channing Dungey, president of ABC Entertainment, issued a statement denouncing Barr’s comment hours after her apology failed to halt a backlash led by many, including the show’s consulting producer Wanda Sykes.
“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show,” the statement read.
Barr’s comment, which has now been deleted, was sent in response to a tweet that accused Jarrett of helping “hide” misdeeds for the Obama administration.
“muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj,” Barr wrote, using Jarrett’s initials. Jarrett, 61, an African-American, worked for Obama from 2009 to 2017.
Barr apologized for the tweet: “I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans. I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks. I should have known better. Forgive me – my joke was in bad taste.”
Barr’s agents, ICM Partners, also dropped her Tuesday, calling her tweet “disgraceful,” “unacceptable” “antithetical to our core values.”
The comedy returned to ABC in March, two decades after it ended its first run from 1988 to 1997, reuniting the original cast including John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf and Sara Gilbert.
The much-awaited 10th season’s two-episode opener attracted 18.2 million viewers. The return was large enough to prompt ABC to quickly order another season.
Sykes was the first to announce she’d pull out of the show Tuesday with a short message of disapproval. “I will not be returning to @RoseanneOnABC,” she wrote on Twitter.
Gilbert, who plays Roseanne’s second child, Darlene Conner, on the show, also denounced Barr’s comments as “abhorrent.” and