“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values.”
Following several decades of being off the air, Roseanne made a hugely successful comeback with her sit-com, and in the last few weeks, became one of the most watched shows on American TV.
Just one week following the season finale, and with conversations revolving around when the second season of the reboot would be put into production, the show has been cancelled by parent company ABC, following a backlash to Roseanne Barr’s recent tweets.
The primary offender is the following, in which Barr refers to former President Obama adviser Valerie Jarret in a derogatory fashion:
Other tweets (more on those here) included several about an apparent conspiracy theory involving democrats organising a sex trafficking ring around the world, and some retweets which made fun of Chelsea Clinton’s physical appearance, and also a retweet of the following tweet which inferred that Hillary Clinton should commit suicide:
Less than 24 hours later, ABC network President Channing Dungey released a very short but pointed statement on the matter:
ABC Entertainment cancels Roseanne Barr's show, calling her comment on Twitter "abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values." https://t.co/2HJA1onFiw [Corrects link] pic.twitter.com/XEdNA8RLft
— ABC News (@ABC) May 29, 2018
Additionally, her agency, ICM Partners, released a statement confirming they had dropped Barr as a client:
“We are all greatly distressed by the disgraceful and unacceptable tweet from Roseanne Barr this morning. What she wrote is antithetical to our core values, both as individuals and as an agency. Consequently, we have notified her that we will not represent her. Effective immediately, Roseanne Barr is no longer a client.”
Overnight, streaming service Hulu have stated (via Deadline) that they will no longer be showing the latest season of Roseanne, while US channels TV Land, CMT, and Paramount Network have all pulled the re-runs of the original nine seasons of the series.
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