WS Chronicle

From Various News Reports

CBS News and other media outlets are reporting on Tuesday that ABC canceled “Roseanne” after the star of the show, Roseanne Barr, issued a racist tweet about former Obama White House aide Valerie Jarrett, who is a black woman.

In the tweet, Barr compared Jarrett to an ape.

Stellar ratings and an apology weren’t enough to mitigate Barr’s racist comments. ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey confirmed the network has decided to cancel the “Roseanne” reboot following Barr’s tweet. In 2016, Dungey made headlines when she became the first African-American to run the entertainment division of a major broadcast television network.

Dungey said in a statement, “Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show.”

Bob Iger, chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC, shared Dungey’s statement on Twitter and added the comment, “There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing.”

ICM Partners, the talent agency that represents Barr, also dropped her as a client. The company sent an email to all of its employees saying, “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.”

Reruns of the show also took an immediate hit, with Viacom announcing that it would drop the series from all its channels.

Earlier on Tuesday, Barr apologized for the racist tweet about Valerie Jarrett.

Barr’s tweet about Jarrett said, “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.”

After initially pushing back against criticism of the comment, Barr admitted her “joke” was in “bad taste.” She said she was sorry and that she was leaving Twitter.

“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.” But the apology was clearly not enough for ABC.

Although Barr had earlier tweeted that she was leaving Twitter, she returned Tuesday night. She retweeted some support she had received – as well wrote she thought Jarrett was “Saudi” – and then she issued a statement.

“Don’t feel sorry for me, guys!!-I just want to apologize to the hundreds of people, and wonderful writers (all liberal) and talented actors who lost their jobs on my show due to my stupid tweet.

The Associated Press wrote on May 22 that the reboot of “Roseanne” ended the season Tuesday, May 22, with a flood, a feast and a prayer. It was a hopeful climax to a show that’s been popular and yet also divisive, AP said.

AP reported that Barr said she was thrilled that so many people have tuned in every week and that many of the hot-button issues that were raised in the reboot will continue in the coming season.

“The show did great. Scrutiny is always good – it’s part of being successful,” she said. “It gives everyone something to talk about. And everyone gets to express their opinion, too.”

Politics made an immediate impact in the first episode, when it was clear that Roseanne Conner embraced President Donald Trump, while her sister, Jackie, was a staunch opponent. In the series finale, the show mocks Trump for his inability to spell “Illinois” in a tweet.

The Trump factor earned the show a wealth of media and other attention, including from the president himself. He called to congratulate Barr on the show’s 18 million-plus debut audience and in a speech said the show “was about us.”

“Roseanne” tackled hot-button topics such as the opioid epidemic, single parenting, undocumented workers, unions, military veterans, debt and the struggles facing lower middle-class families.

“We want to be brave. We want to tackle things that other shows are worried they can’t either make funny or will make people uncomfortable,” said executive producer Bruce Helford, who also worked on the original series, which ran from 1988-97.

The reboot also has prompted some outrage, including a joke about two other TV shows featuring minority characters that was deemed dismissive, and an episode some people called Islamophobic.

The show’s writers were to regroup Tuesday, May 29, the day of the racist tweet, to start working on the next season, which was to have 13 episodes. After the racist tweet, African-American comedian Wanda Sykes said she would not return to the show.