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ABC cancels Roseanne following star’s racist tweet and backlash

Written by gaytourism

The show came back this year | Photo: IMDB/ABC

ABC’s revival of their family sitcom Roseanne is no more. After the show’s star Roseanne Barr made a racist tweet, and claimed it was a joke, the network canceled the show.

They first announced the revival of the series last year and made the decision to play fast and loose with the original show’s controversial finale.

This morning, Barr tweeted about Valerie Jarrett, a former senior advisor to President Barack Obama.

In the now-deleted-and-screencapped tweet, Barr wrote: ‘muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj’ in reference to Jarrett.

Roseanne Barr's deleted tweet

Barr’s deleted tweet | Photo: Twitter

Initially, she tried to defend her comment, calling it a ‘joke’.

Roseanne tweet

Roseanne tweet | Photo: Twitter

She then said that Muslims can be any race, as Islam is a religion and not a race.

However, she did not address the ‘Planet of the Apes’ portion of her comment.

Roseanne tweet

Roseanne tweet | Photo: Twitter

Backlash began long before ABC’s cancellation.

Gay comedian Wanda Sykes, who was a consulting producer on the series, announced she would not be returning to the show following Barr’s comments.

Before that, showrunner Whitney Cummings left the show.

Sara Gilbert also responded to Barr’s comments.

Damage done

Barr then apologized for her comments and announced she would be leaving Twitter.

It’s not the first time she’s come under fire for her controversial comments.

She has also long been vocal about her support for Donald Trump and dislike of Hillary Clinton. On Twitter, she often re-tweets various right-wing conspiracy theories.

For ABC, though, the damage was finally done with today’s tweets.

In a statement, network president Channing Dungey said: ‘Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show.’

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