“Roseanne” is no more.
Following a series of racist tweets on Tuesday by the show’s star Roseanne Barr, ABC has announced the sitcom revival has been cancelled.
“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show,” Channing Dungey, president of ABC Entertainment said in a statement Tuesday.
The news comes after Barr posted a racist tweet about Valerie Jarrett, a former senior adviser to Barack Obama in the early morning hours of May 29.
“Muslim Brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj,” Barr wrote in a now-deleted tweet, replying to a thread accusing Jarrett of covering up alleged Obama administration misdeeds.
After multiple users slammed the “Roseanne” star for being racist, she replied with another tweet: “Muslims r NOT a race.”
Following her tweets and the cancellation of “Roseanne”, the star was dropped by her agent, ICM Partners.
“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,” the agency said via an internal communication to all staff members. “Consequently, we have notified her that we will not represent her. Effective immediately, Roseanne Barr is no longer a client.”
RELATED: Co-Showrunner Whitney Cummings Exits ‘Roseanne’
The outspoken Donald Trump supporter, who is known for sharing right-wing conspiracy theories, backtracked on her original tweet about Jarrett, calling it a “joke” before deleting her posts and issuing an apology.
“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,” Barr wrote. She then made the following proclamation:
She did not, however, leave Twitter at all. On Thursday, Barr further addressed the controversy in a series of tweets. She specifically mentioned co-stars Michael Fishman and Sara Gilbert, who she forgave for discussing the situation on public forums instead of reaching out to her privately. 31
Barr’s ex-husband Tom Arnold chimed in, telling The Hollywood Reporter “she wanted” the cancellation to happen.
“It had to happen,” Arnold said. “And I am going to tell you the truth, she wanted it to happen if you saw how her tweets escalated this weekend. If it hadn’t happened yesterday, this season would have been so awful for everyone every day because she would have felt like she was [being] taken advantage [of], just like when I left the show.”
“ABC lost maybe $1 billion from this; this show was grinding out money hand over fist and they lost it all because somebody didn’t say, ‘Get that phone out of her hand,'” he continued. “She’s not going to go on TV and say these things. But you put that phone in her hand and she is a loose cannon.”
In fact, Arnold said he once warned the show’s producers to take her phone away: “I said look, someone has got to tell her that Donald Trump doesn’t carry his own phone. He may say the tweet, but someone is typing it in… She needed someone to wrangle her in and take her phone.”
“Roseanne” cast members including Sara Gilbert took to Twitter to address Barr’s comments, distancing themselves from the actress and expressing disappointment.
Arnold had a response to the actress on Tuesday after she tweeted the racist comments:
Celebs, including Don Cheadle and Patricia Arquette, weighed in on the racist tweet Tuesday as #FireRoseanne became a trending topic on Twitter.
