ABC Entertainment canceled the reboot of “Roseanne,” after the show’s star, Roseanne Barr, said on Twitter that former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett looked like a product of the Muslim Brotherhood and “Planet of the Apes.”
“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show,” Channing Dungey, the president of ABC Entertainment, said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.
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
Early in the morning Tuesday, Barr tweeted, “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj,” in response to another user’s claim that suggested Jarrett helped former President Barack Obama hide secrets.
[Related: George Soros fires back at Roseanne Barr over ‘Nazi’ tweet]
Barr later apologized, calling the remark a “bad joke.”
“I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans,” Roseanne tweeted. “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 also said she was “leaving” Twitter.
Barr is an outspoken Trump supporter and voted for him in 2016. On her show, which was a reboot of her 1990s TV sitcom, she portrayed a Trump supporter
Following the inflammatory tweets, Roseanne’s fellow cast members took to Twitter to condemn her “racist and distasteful” remarks.
“I am hurt, embarrassed, and disappointed. The racist and distasteful comments from Roseanne are inexcusable,” Emma Kenney, who portrays Roseanne’s granddaughter, Harris Conner, tweeted.
[Also read: Trump blamed in wake of Roseanne, Starbucks racism]
I am hurt, embarrassed, and disappointed. The racist and distasteful comments from Roseanne are inexcusable.
— Emma Kenney (@EmmaRoseKenney) May 29, 2018
“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,” Sara Gilbert, who plays one of Roseanne’s daughters, Darlene Conner, 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.
— sara gilbert (@THEsaragilbert) May 29, 2018
Robert Iger, the chairman and CEO of Disney, which owns the American Broadcasting Company, said on Twitter that network made the right decision.
“There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing,” Iger tweeted, alongside the statement from the president of ABC.
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
“Roseanne” originally aired from 1988 to 1997 and was rebooted in 2018 with a mid-season run of nine episodes.
The premiere of the revival crushed the competition, averaging 18.1 million viewers and was top overall in the adults 18-49 and total viewers categories. The first season ended being the TV season’s number one scripted series on all of broadcast, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
