US network ABC cancels Roseanne reboot over racist tweets

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HOURS after Roseanne Barr’s show was sensationally axed following her racist slur, the comedian has re-tweeted several comments fiercely backing her behaviour, before asking fans to stop defending her.

Taking to Twitter, Barr said: “Hey guys, don’t defend me. It’s sweet of you 2 try, but ... losing my show is 0 compared 2 being labelled a racist over one tweet - that I regret even more.”

She also requested that people not boycott ABC as a result.

Her response comes after several users took to Twitter to claim the African-American former adviser to Barack Obama, Valerie Jarrett, whom Barr described as an “ape”, was “lighter” skinned and therefore the comment wasn’t racist.

“It’s not racist to say a white person looks like an ape,” a user wrote.

“Roseanne IS NOT A RACIST AND IT WAS A JOKE,” another slammed.

Barr has re-tweeted more than a dozen tweets from outraged fans, including ones that are calling on the ABC to stand down other employees who have previously not upheld their standards.

Despite her apparent bitterness about the situation, Barr posted a public apology, saying she deeply regretted her comments.

She also retweeted a Snopes article that debunks the claim that says Valerie Jarrett once said she wanted to “help America be a more Islamic country”.

Roseanne had referenced Islamist organisation Muslim Brotherhood in her comments about Jarrett.

The fallout started after the comedian went off on a bizarre Twitter rant attacking people including Barack Obama’s former senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, who is African-American.

She said the long-time, well respected political figure was what you would get if Muslim Brotherhood and Planet of the Apes “had a baby.”

“Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby = vj,” she wrote.

Roseanne was earlier cancelled over the comedian’s racist tweets despite huge ratings for the reboot.

A statement by TV network ABC Entertainment slammed the comedian’s comments.

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

The axe fell on Roseanne despite the reboot of the sitcom being the highest rated show in the US this season. Re-runs of the original have also been axed.

Australian networks Channel Ten and ELEVEN have cut the show effective immediately, despite not all episodes of the revival having aired yet.

Media giant Viacom is also reportedly pulling original Roseanne reruns and will no longer air episodes of the show on its Paramount Network, TV Land and CMT channels, The Wrap reported. The change will take effect tomorrow.

Barr’s tweet was in response to a news article about Jarrett’s alleged involvement in helping cover up CIA spying on the President of France.

Barr has since apologised for the offensive tweet and said she was leaving Twitter (as of this morning her account is still active). She also issued an apology “to Valerie Jarrett and all Americans” for her “bad joke”.

“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,” she tweeted.

Ms Jarrett has also addressed the scandal, saying it should be a “teaching moor brain too fast for fingerment about everyday racism in America.”

“I’m fine,” she said. “I’m worried about all the people out there who don’t have a circle of friends and followers who come right to their defense.”

Barr fired off even more offensive tweets, which included a false claim that former US president Bill Clinton’s daughter Chelsea is married to billionaire George Soros’ nephew.

She repeated a false rumour that the billionaire investor, who is Jewish and survived the Holocaust, is a Nazi sympathiser and assisted the organisation during World War II despite the fact he was 13.

She said he was a “Nazi who turned in his fellow Jews 2 be murdered in German concentration camps & stole their wealth,” which was re-tweeted by President Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr.

In response to Clinton’s rebuttal, Barr tweeted, “CORRECTION: CHELSEA CLINTON IS NOT MARRIED TO A SOROS NEPHEW. HER HUSBAND IS THE SON OF A CORRUPT SENATOR, SO SORRY!”

A spokesman for Soros responded in a statement: “George Soros survived the Nazi occupation of Hungary as a 13 year old child by going into hiding and assuming a false identity with the help of his father, who managed to save his own family and help many other Jews survive Holocaust,” the statement read.

“He did not collaborate with the Nazis. He did not help round up people. He did not confiscate anybody’s property. Such false allegations are insulting to the victims of the Holocaust, to all Jewish people, and to anyone who honors the truth.

They are an affront to Mr. Soros and his family, who against the odds managed to survive one of the darkest moments in our history.”

Robert Iger, chairman and CEO of Disney, which owns ABC, addressed the abrupt move on Twitter.

“There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing,” he said.

Barr was also dropped from her agency, ICM Partners.

“We are all greatly distressed by the disgraceful and unacceptable tweet from Roseanne Barr this morning,” the agency’s leadership said in an internal memo, Deadline reported. “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.”

The shocking turn of events came within hours of Barr’s tweets.

Before ABC swung the axe, comedian Wanda Sykes announced she was quitting as consulting producer of the hit revival, which debuted in March.

Sara Gilbert — who played Barr’s TV daughter Darlene Conner in both iterations of the show — tweeted just before the show was cancelled, voicing her disappointment in the actions of the program’s star.

Longtime Roseanne star Sandra Bernhard, who is also one of Barr’s closest friends, said she had “kinda had it” with the comedian.

“I’m really trying to breathe through it and stay in that ‘dedicated to the one I love’ mindset,” Bernhard said, referring to Barr. “But I gotta be honest with you — I’m kind of hitting a wall with this. Kinda bummed out. Kinda had it.”

Emma Kenney, who played Roseanne’s granddaughter Harris on the new series, said she was “hurt, embarrassed, and disappointed” by Barr’s tweet.

She also said in a since-deleted tweet that she was about to quit the show before she learned it was cancelled.

CELEBRITIES REACT TO ROSEANNE CANCELLATION
Twitter lit up after Roseanne was cancelled.

Ex-husband Tom Arnold claimed that he was banned by ABC for calling Roseanne out on previous racist tweets.

Roseanne originally aired in the US from 1988 to 1997 but was brought back in March to rave reviews and ratings. Barr reprised her role as brash matriarch Roseanne Conner, an unabashed Trump supporter who’s at political odds with the rest of her family.

After the hour-long debut picked up a record 18.1 million viewers in the US, the comedy was picked up for a second season — its 11th overall.

After the show’s ratings success Donald Trump called the comedian personally to congratulate her.