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ABC Cancels ‘Roseanne’ After Uproar Over Racist, Conspiratorial Tweets
In a series of tweets and retweets, Barr called a former White House adviser an ape, mocked Chelsea Clinton’s appearance, and joked about Hillary Clinton committing suicide.
Roseanne Barr, whose character in her recently rebooted self-titled sitcom is a staunch Trump supporter, lit up social media this week with a flurry of inflammatory tweets. Unfortunately for Barr, her online activity had real-life consequences.
ABC announced on Tuesday the cancellation of Barr’s sitcom, CNN reports.
“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show,” their statement read.
Barr caught flak for retweeting Pizzagate theories — the popular but unfounded conspiracy theory alleging the existence of a Democrat-led sex trafficking ring — and reposting memes that take aim at both Hillary and Chelsea Clinton.
Barr appeared to target former Obama White House aide Valerie Jarrett, a black woman born in Iran, tweeting that she was the child of the Muslim Brotherhood and the movie “Planet Of The Apes,” The Hill reports.
This racist tweet was a response to a series of tweets suggesting that Jarett had helped “hide” Obama’s secrets during his presidency. The Muslim Brotherhood is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt, according to a report from CNN.
In other tweets and retweets, Barr suggested on Tuesday that Chelsea Clinton is married to the nephew of George Soros, a claim that Clinton later addressed in a tweet of her own.
In addition to retweeting a meme comparing the former first daughter to Donkey from "Shrek," Barr retweeted a meme suggesting that Hillary Clinton should commit suicide following her loss in the "rigged" 2016 presidential election.
Barr’s tweets have been met with plenty of backlash on social media, with many calling for ABC, the network that airs Barr’s show, to condemn her statements. And they did more than just that.
Barr apologized over the course of a morning.
Barr tweeted that her statement about Jarrett was a “joke,” and apologized for her statements about Clinton and Soros.
She then tweeted that her joke about Jarrett was in “bad taste,” and apologized to “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.” She asks for forgiveness.
She also said she’s leaving Twitter, The Hill reports.
Wanda Sykes, one of the show's consulting producers, and Barr's co-star Sara Gilbert both reacted to Barr's statements on social media. Sykes announced that she would be leaving the show, while Gilbert called Barr's comments "abhorrent."
"This is incredibly sad and difficult for all of us, as we've created a show that we believe in, are proud of, and that audiences love — one that is separate and apart from the opinions and words of one cast member," Gilbert wrote.
[Photo: Roseanne Barr poses for a portrait during the 2014 NBCUniversal Summer Press Day at The Langham Huntington on April 8, 2014 in Pasadena, California. By Charley Gallay/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images]
