‘Roseanne’ Series Cancelled After Lead’s Racist Tweets

Early on Tuesday, actress Roseanne Barr became involved in heavy online controversy after tweeting about Valerie Jarrett, a former top adviser to President Obama. Barr made reference to “The Planet of the Apes” when talking about Jarrett’s looks.

Hours later, ABC cancelled her show ‘Roseanne’, which recently finished its tenth season.

Her tweet was short. Monday night, she tweeted that “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.” The next day, after several Twitter users showed their anger and disappointment towards the celebrity, she released another tweet—this time using actual sentences—and said “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.” She also stated that she would leave Twitter.

This is not the first time that either her or her show have been involved in controversy. In her case, she gained attention before this new season premiered, since she openly discussed her character’s support—and her own support—for president Donald Trump. When explaining her decision to make fictional-Roseanne a Trump supporter, she stated that she always saw the show as an opportunity to mirror the current state of the U.S., and wanted to display the fact that many Americans support Trump and voted for him. She added to her statements: “I think it’s the time to close ranks and see an end to ‘hatriotism’ in this country.” This decision, accompanied by her statements and open endorsement for the president, caused for Twitter users to create the hashtag “#BoycottRoseanne”, showing opposition to the show’s upcoming airing.

However, after looking at the significant success the season’s premiere had, Barr—who had stopped using Twitter for some time so that she wouldn’t hurt the show’s ratings with her comments—came back to the platform and to her regular frequent tweeting. She has frequently used her account to support different conspiracy theories, such as one that accused a Parkland high school survivor of giving a Nazi salute. Her tweets reached a point where ABC executives, when asked about Barr’s statements, stated that they had no control over it and addressed them on a passive nature, even going to the extent of saying “You can’t control Roseanne Barr.”

The show gained controversy after an episode in which a character laments having missed “all the shows about Black and Asian families,” referencing the shows “Black-ish” and “Fresh off the Boat”; Roseanne’s character then stated “They’re just like us. There. You’re all caught up.” Several articles and open editorials have been written critiquing the joke, by saying that it belittled representation of minorities in entertainment, assuming that the only place they have in the industry is for their experiences and perspectives to be normalized, dismissing the nature of those shows and the specific characters they have created.

The fact that the show’s network didn’t take any statements on the issue didn’t help the situation either. Audiences also remarked that the joke was written for the character of a Trump supporter, displaying a statement regarding some Americans’ unwillingness to listen to stories regarding the experience lived by minorities. However, instead of pointing at how Roseanne’s lack of empathy shows something that must be improved upon in American culture, the show treats it as a mere one-liner, normalizing the characters’ approach and near-indifference towards entertainment related to minorities.

The network’s decision to cancel the show—despite having announced in March that it would come back for an eleventh season—is somewhat surprising, since they did not act when Barr tweeted other controversial and offensive statements and showed themselves quite pleased at how positive the show’s ratings have been, especially when considering that some of its shows have recently placed poorly in the ratings charts. Despite this, the statement on the show’s cancelling was simple and direct: “Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show.”

Some celebrities have shown their support of this decision. Her co-star Sarah Gilbert tweeted: “Roseanne’s recent comments about Valerie Jarrett, and so much more, are abhorrent and do not reflect the beliefs of our cast and crew or anyone associated with our show. I am disappointed in her actions to say the least”. A particularly notable statement was released by actor Don Cheadle, who took to twitter, writing: “you can take @RoseanneOnABC [the show’s twitter account] out of racism but you can’t take the racism out of @therealroseanne [Barr’s account].”

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