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 The show, a revival of the 1990s hit "Roseanne," was ABC's most
widely watched prime time show for the TV season that ended last
week. President Donald Trump has cited its huge viewership as
evidence his supporters, who include Barr, want shows that speak
to their concerns.
"Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and
inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her
show," ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey said in a
statement.
In a since deleted comment on Twitter, Barr compared Valerie
Jarrett, a former adviser to President Barack Obama, to an ape.
Barr wrote that if the Islamist political movement "muslim
brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby = vj."
The actress, 65, apologized "for making a bad joke" about
Jarrett, who is black and was born in Iran to American parents.
Barr's tweet followed a Twitter conversation referring to a
Wikileaks allegation that the CIA spied on French presidential
candidates during the Obama administration.
"Don't feel sorry for me, guys!!," Barr said in a Tweet late on
Tuesday. "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."
Jarrett, 61, said on Tuesday that Disney Chief Executive Bob
Iger called her before ABC announced the show's cancellation.
"I think we have to turn it into a teaching moment," Jarrett
said at a taping of an MSNBC town hall event called “Everyday
Racism in America” that the network released ahead of its
scheduled broadcast. "I’m fine. I’m worried about all the people
out there who don’t have a circle of friends and followers
coming to their defense.”
RERUNS ALSO PULLED
Hollywood talent agency ICM said in a statement on Tuesday it
will no longer represent Barr.
The fallout from the show’s cancellation also hit its lucrative
syndication market as Viacom said it would pull reruns of the
1990s “Roseanne” episodes from its Paramount, TV Land and CMT
cable networks. Another cable network, Laff, also said it was
removing reruns of the show.
Hulu said the new "Roseanne" show would no longer be available
on its streaming service.
The original "Roseanne" ran from 1988 to 1997, featuring a
blue-collar family, the Conners, with overweight parents
struggling to get by. It was praised for its realistic portrayal
of working-class life.
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The current "Roseanne" was ABC's biggest hit of the 2017-2018
season, drawing an average 18.7 million viewers, second only to CBS
sitcom "The Big Bang Theory," according to Nielsen data through May
20.
ABC aired nine episodes of "Roseanne" from March until May and
generated $22.8 million in ad revenue, or 2.5 percent of the
network’s total for the season, according to iSpot data. In late
March, the network renewed the show for another season.
Disney shares, which had fallen on a disappointing debut for the
latest "Star Wars" movie, closed down 2.46 percent at $99.69 on the
New York Stock Exchange. Markets were down sharply overall on
concerns about political instability in Italy.
Disney's Iger added on Twitter: "There was only one thing to do
here, and that was the right thing."
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders, asked whether Trump thought
the show should have been canceled, told reporters traveling with
the president to Nashville, Tennessee: “That’s not what the
president is looking at. That’s not what he’s spending his time on.
I think we have a lot bigger things going on in the country right
now.”
CAST COMMENT
Anger among the show's supporting cast added to pressure on ABC.
Sara Gilbert, who plays daughter Darlene, on Twitter called Barr's
comments "abhorrent."
Emma Kenney, who plays Gilbert's on-screen daughter Harris, said she
had decided to leave the series because of Barr's words even before
ABC canceled the show. "As I called my manager to quit working on
Roseanne, I found out the show got canceled," Kenney wrote on
Twitter.
Emmy-winning comedian and "Roseanne" consulting producer Wanda Sykes
was the first prominent figure associated with the show to cut
ranks, quitting hours after Barr's comments.
Tuesday's furor echoed a 2013 incident in which Barr, in a
subsequently deleted tweet, said black former Obama administration
official Susan Rice "is a man with big swinging ape balls."
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine and Eric Kelsey; Editing by Bill Tarrant
and Cynthia Osterman)
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