2018 seemed to be the year for the actress, Rosanne Barr until one tweet took everything down.
You can say that 2017 was the year of the revivals. NBC had Will & Grace and ABC got on the revival train with Roseanne. This show was highly anticipated by everyone since the 2017 ABC upfront when they announced the return of this iconic show along with the original actors (and yes both Beckys).
Even after 20 some years off the air, the show didn’t seem to lose its laugh as it had an amazing 18.2 million people watching the show the very same day. After the huge success of the first episode back, ABC ordered an additional season for 2018-2019. Everything seemed to be going well for the cast and crew of Roseanne until May 28th at 11:45 pm.
The lead star of the show tweeted:
“Muslim brotherhood and planet of the apes had a baby=vj”
If you didn’t know who vj was she is the former Obama aid, Vaerie Jerrett. This isn’t the first offensive tweet from the star, most are pushed under the rug. This one did not go away that easily.
The star then tweeted at 6:28 am on May 29th:
“It’s a joke”
And one hour later at 7:28 am:
“I apologize. I am now leaving Twitter.”
She didn’t seem to leave Twitter as a few hours later she posted:
“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.”
The tweets the star had done in an attempt to mitigate the damage didn’t seem to work as the network released a statement at 11:15 am with Channing Dungey saying:
“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show.”
The CEO of Disney also made a tweet saying:
“There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing.”
As if that wasn’t bad enough, a few hours later, ICM Partners who represented Rosanne Barr released the actress saying in an internal note to all employees:
“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. Consequently, we have notified her that we will not represent her. Effective immediately, Roseanne Barr is no longer a client.”
Now that the day is almost over and most of the dust has settled, it’s hard to believe that one tweet just brought down one of the best rivals of our time. This just goes to show how closely networks will be paying attention to those in leadership roles, the network was projected to make 60 million for next season of Rosanne.
Tell us your thoughts on what happened in the comments below.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter – “Roseanne Barr Dropped by ICM Partners After Racist Tweet”, Variety.com – “‘Roseanne’ Canceled at ABC”, Vulture.com – “The Ratings for Roseanne’s Revival Premiere Are Incredible”, USAToday Facebook Page
Photo Credit: ABC Network, USA Today
