On Tuesday, karma delivered a swift and unmistakable message to Roseanne Barr: “Ain’t nobody got time for that!!”
Entertainment
In a huge blow to racism, the reboot of the hit TV show ‘Roseanne’ is no more. Unless you’ve been living on the dark side of the moon for the past 24 hours, by now you’re aware that ABC canceled the show only hours after its star, Roseanne Barr, tweeted an unconscionable and unprovoked racist remark about former Barack Obama aide Valerie Jarrett, who is black.
“Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj,” Roseanne tweeted in reference to Ms. Jarrett. No word on why the failed TV star felt the need to attack a woman who hasn’t worked in government or even been seen in public since the Obama’s left The White House. However, as a die-hard Trump supporter, Barr must have somehow convinced herself that the rise of Trump had given her (and other racists like her) free rein to say and do whatever she pleased. Too bad for her, she was dead wrong!
Soon after Roseanne’s tweet went live, people in Hollywood and from all walks of life pounced on the not-so-funny comedienne.
Sarah Gilbert, who costars on the show was quick to denounce the tweet. Emma Kenney, who also appears on the show, said: “I am hurt, embarrassed, and disappointed. The racist and distasteful comments from Roseanne are inexcusable.”
Roseanne’s recent comments about Valerie Jarrett, and so much more, are abhorrent and do not reflect the beliefs of our cast and crew or anyone associated with our show. I am disappointed in her actions to say the least.
— sara gilbert (@THEsaragilbert) May 29, 2018
Wanda Sykes, who was scheduled to write for and also appear on the show, decided early Tuesday that she no longer had any desire to work with Roseanne.
Actress Debra Messing also spoke out against Barr and applauded Sykes for her decision to leave the show.
“Thank you @iamwandasykes,” she tweeted. “[Barr] is a fascist. What she said about @ValerieJarrett is unconscionable.”
“It spell checked — I meant RACIST,” Messing clarified in a subsequent tweet. “But fascist can stand.”
THIS!!!!!!!! @DisneyStudios FIRED an African American sports commentator for a comment ( that wasn’t even close to roseanne’s). @therealroseanne should be fired if @DisneyStudios is going to have integrity. https://t.co/GF0x6GnAQu
— Debra Messing (@DebraMessing) May 29, 2018
Rosie O’Donnell, who is close friends with Barr but strongly disagrees with her Trump-loving politics, also condemned the remark.
“Her racist comment was childish and beneath her best self,” she tweeted.
Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” tweeted that “no apology” could justify ABC “turning a blind eye to this bigotry by airing another second of her show.”
“Roseanne Barr compared Valerie Jarrett to an ape,” he wrote. “Even in the Age of Trump, there are red lines that can never be crossed. This is one. @ABC and @Disney do the right thing. There are still boundaries in the Age of Trump that cannot be crossed.”
Hey @ABC, Roseanne Barr compared Valerie Jarrett to an ape. There is no apology she can make that justifies @ABC turning a blind eye to this bigotry by airing another second of her show.
Even in the Age of Trump, there are red lines that can never be crossed. This is one.— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) May 29, 2018
I am repulsed that Valerie Jarret had that racist and bigoted “joke” made at her expense and I am sickened that any Black or Muslim person has to keep hearing this sickness in 2018.
— Patricia Arquette (@PattyArquette) May 29, 2018
@therealroseanne, you break my heart — You are a sorry excuse for a human being. How odd that you, as a comedienne, have forgotten then meaning of a “joke” and a personal comment. Your meanness is staggering and will earn you a ticket to a sad, lonely and sorry life.
— Rita Moreno (@TheRitaMoreno) May 29, 2018
Interestingly, the attack on Valerie Jarrett is not the first time Roseanne felt the urge to compare a black person to an ape. In 2013, Barr referred to President Obama’s National Security Advisor Susan Rice as a primate.
“susan rice is a man with big swinging ape balls,” Barr tweeted before later deleting the message.
Entertainment
Proving that there is a God, ABC heard the cries. Despite ‘Roseanne’ being the #1 scripted series of the season with a 6.4 rating in the key demographic, the Disney-owned network proved it could no longer stomach Barr’s months-long brand of bad politics and decided to act quickly.
“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show,” president of ABC Entertainment Channing Dungey announced Tuesday.
Additionally, the Paramount Network, TV Land, and CMT pulled all reruns of her show. If that wasn’t enough, talent agency ICM dropped her as a client as well.
Realizing (too little, too late) that she had just tweeted herself and 100+ actors, tech crew members, and staff workers out of a job, Roseanne issued a lukewarm apology.
“I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans,” Barr tweeted. “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.”
She later added: “Don’t feel sorry for me, guys!!-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.”
Despite being compared to an ape, Valerie Jarrett responded late Tuesday by taking a cue from Michelle Obama’s mantra: “When they go low, we go high.”
“I think we have to turn it into a teaching moment,” Jarrett said. “I’m fine. I’m worried about all the people out there who don’t have a circle of friends and followers who come right to their defense. The person who is walking down the street minding their own business and they see somebody cling to their purse, or run across the street, or every black parent I know who has a boy who has to sit down and have a conversation — the talk — as we call it. As you say, those ordinary examples of racism that happen every single day.”
So, let this be a lesson — a “teaching moment” — to Roseanne and all the others just like her. No matter what Donald Trump does or says, racism has NO place in America and even “The Donald” can’t save you from your own ignorance!!
ROSEANNE got BARR-ed!
How is somebody so stupid to ruin their own money? Not only her own but all those other people who were counting on a job. She is never going to be on tv again. Good riddance to her and like DJ said Trump got her in trouble and can’t get her out. That’s what she gets for following that clown.