It’s rare for a show to get pulled after its been renewed for another season, but stranger things have happened. Usually, the reasons are unclear but ABC wants to make it well known that the reason it is cancelling the Roseanne revival is due to its stars Twitter activity.
That’s right, in a surprising twist, season 11 of the sitcom Roseanne is no longer moving forward after Roseanne Barr, the show’s creator and lead actress, put out a racist tweet. Now deleted, the tweet said that Valerie Jarret, aid to former President Obama, is “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby.” The backlash was so great, Barr deleted the tweet and apologized for the comment.
ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey confirmed in a statement that the decision to cancel the show was based on this tweet, and stated that “Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show.”
But the ramifications don’t end there. Hulu and Viacom, who own the rights to the reruns of the show, are pulling the episodes, further cutting revenue to Barr. Her talent agency, ICM Partners, also dropped her as a client. Barr herself has not come out with a statement yet regarding the cancellation.
Co-star Sara Gilbert, who plays Roseanne’s daughter Darlene, released her thoughts on the show’s cancelling:
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
It does bring up a good point – while the move does affect Barr, it also affects all the other talented actors and actresses, writers, and crew who worked on the show who will now have to find other gigs. Some are even tweeting that John Goodman (who plays Roseanne’s husband Dan) should become the star, with the hashtag #CallitDAN, or arguing that Oscar-nominated actress Laurie Metcalf to take the star role.
