ABC Cancels ‘Roseanne’ Following Star’s Racist Tweets

ABC has announced that it will pull the plug on the revival of the legendary sitcom Roseanne following Roseanne Barr’s racist and bigoted tweets about former senior advisor Valerie Jarrett. Besides likening the African-American Jarrett to an ape, Barr also tossed out anti-Semitic and false and hateful tweets about George Soros and Chelsea Clinton.

In a short statement announcing the show — which had been picked up for a second season earlier this year — would have the plug pulled, ABC said “Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show.”

In a Tuesday morning tweet she later deleted, Barr — who has a history of spreading fringe right-wing conspiracies and inflammatory political rhetoric on her social media accounts — joked that Jarrett was what you would get if the Muslim Brotherhood and Planet of the Apes had a baby. Barr eventually apologized for the tweet while claiming she would be “leaving Twitter.”

CNN’s Brian Stelter noted that a Disney source told him that the reason they canceled the show was it was a “question of right and wrong. And it’s a question of our company’s values.”

The revival debuted to huge ratings this winter, leading President Donald Trump to personally congratulate Barr and conservative media to embrace the show as it depicted the star’s character as a Trump supporter — much as she is in real-life. Meanwhile, as ABC quickly picked it up for a second season, Barr peddled insane conspiracy theories on Twitter — such as QAnon — and claimed Parkland survivor David Hogg was flashing a “Nazi salute” when he raised his fist at the March For Our Lives.

While ABC and Disney execs had essentially held their noses regarding Roseanne’s Twitter vitriol for months due to the show’s big audience, it would appear they realized this was a bridge too far and knew something had to be done.