Roseanne has been barred.
In the aftermath of last night’s bizarre meltdown by Roseanne Barr, in which she slammed everyone from Chelseal Clinton, to George Soros, to Chris Cillizza and Hillary Clinton in rambling, racist tweets, it was only a matter of time before ABC announced it would cancel her show. It did that just moments ago, with a brief announcement that “Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show.”
Disney CEO Bob Iger chimed in, saying that “there was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing.”
From Channing Dungey, President of ABC Entertainment: “Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show.”
There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing.
— Robert Iger (@RobertIger) May 29, 2018
The decision came hours after star Roseanne drew sharp condemnation for a tweet on former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, whom she compared to a child of “The Planet of the Apes” and the Muslim Brotherhood, and after saying that “George Soros is a Nazi who turned in his fellow Jews to be murdered in German concentration camps.”
Barr deleted her tweet about Jarrett not long after posting it. She followed it up with an apology which read, “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. I am now leaving Twitter.”
According to Variety, the revival of the classic sitcom was set to air a 13-episode eleventh season this fall. The move represents a remarkable turn of events for the network, Barr, and a show that finished the season as the No. 1 scripted prime-time television series in the 18-49 demo, according to Nielsen live-plus-same say numbers.
Just two weeks ago at ABC’s upfront presentation, Barr introduced Disney-ABC Television Group president Ben Sherwood, joking that he was “the guy responsible for most of my tweets.” Sherwood and Barr hugged onstage, and the the exec noted that ABC had not had television’s No. 1 show in 24 years. Dungey, during her portion of the presentation, bragged that “The premiere ratings even took us by surprise,” claiming that 1 in 10 Americans has seen the “Roseanne” revival premiere.
Roseanne has yet to make a public statement; it was not immediately clear if any other network would be willing to pick up her show.
[H/T Zero Hedge]
