Roseanne Canceled After Thing Everyone Expected Happened

Roseanne Barr, star of renewed classic sitcom Roseanne, recently published a tweet that has prompted network ABC to cancel the show. The tenth season only managed to last nine episodes before being pulled, though many critics have been calling for its cancellation since the first episode. In a statement, ABC called Barr's tweet "abhorrent" and "repugnant."Roseanne, the original sitcom, has a fond place in many viewers' memories, something that helped catapult the series' return with huge viewer numbers. However, the first episode of season ten was controversial, digging straight into politics with polarizing results. Later episodes provoked further criticism and calls for cancellation due to racist comments, advocating physical punishments for children, and more.

Barr's own beliefs, statements, and random tweets have added fuel to the fire, and this afternoon the seemingly inevitable happened: one of Barr's tweets prompted ABC to cancel the series. The comment was made during a Twitter rant in which Barr wrote, "muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj."

The "vj" in that tweet refers to Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett. In a tweet later in the morning, Barr continued her rant, stating, "ISLAM is not a RACE, lefties. Islam includes EVERY RACE of people." Though the tweet about Jarrett has since been deleted, the other remains.

Barr appears to have gone on damage control. Not long before the cancellation announcement was made public, the actress published a pair of tweets, one apologizing and stating she is leaving Twitter, another apologizing to Valerie Jarrett and "all Americans." In the tweet, Barr calls her statement "a bad joke." ABC, however, has canceled the show and denounced Barr's tweets.

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