ABC Cancels Roseanne after Star’s Racist ‘Joke’

ABC has cancelled its reboot of Roseanne after the eponymous star of the sitcom, Roseanne Barr, tweeted several insensitive and racially charged jokes Monday.

“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show,” said ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey in a statement on Tuesday.

Actress and producer Barr made remarks Monday on Twitter comparing former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett to a cross between the Muslim Brotherhood and “Planet of the Apes.”

“muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj,” Barr wrote in a thread where another user suggested Jarrett had helped the Obama administration conceal facts. The star also got into a Twitter spat with Chelsea Clinton after spreading a false rumor that Clinton married into the family of liberal billionaire George Soros, and another that Soros had been a Nazi collaborator.

“George Soros is a nazi who turned in his fellow Jews 2 be murdered in German concentration camps & stole their wealth-were you aware of that? But, we all make mistakes, right Chelsea?” Barr said.

The actress later claimed the comment about Jarrett was a “joke” and apologized. She added that she is leaving Twitter.

“I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans,” Roseanne tweeted early Tuesday. “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, a supporter of President Trump who has been known to flirt with conspiracy theories, played a character close to herself on her show and has said ABC was “nothing but supportive” of her ideas.

The African-American actress and comedian Wanda Sykes, who had been a consulting producer for Roseanne, announced Tuesday before the show was canceled that she would not be returning to the show after Barr’s remarks.