UPDATE: ABC just cancelled Roseanne. I can not stress the HOLY SHIT-NESS of all of this.
In a statement, ABC’s President Channing Dungey said, “Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show.”
It should be noted that Wanda Sykes quit the show as a writer and producer before ABC made this decision. Sara Gilbert also put out this strongly worded tweet:
Before following it up with her sadness over the cancelation:
Of course, calling Roseanne Barr “one cast member” is disingenuous. She is the face and literal name of the show — there is no separating the two.
Emma Kenny also tweeted:
And Roseanne has been dropped by her agency.
There were some who were speculating that someone will pick up Roseanne, as it’s too valuable a property. But I suspect the chances of that happening are fairly small, as I doubt the cast and the writers will be able to continue associating themselves with the show. But who knows … money does talk.
Original post:
You know who has a headache this post-Memorial Day weekend Tuesday morning? ABC has a headache this post-Memorial Day weekend Tuesday morning, and her name is “Roseanne Barr.”
Over in the cesspool that is Twitter, ABC’s biggest new old star was busily being herself when she managed to tweet this finely honed piece of racism:
Hoo boy. Just to be clear, “vj” is Valerie Jarrett who served as a White House senior advisor and assistant to the president for intergovernmental relations and public liaison under President Obama, and is a favorite target of the right-wing conspiracy nuts for reasons I just … can’t … quite … put … my … finger … on …
Oh wait, she’s an African-American woman who happened to be born in Iran and who held a place of power under an African-American president.
Oh, and by the way, Barr also followed this up with a bunch of crazy tweets accusing Chelsea Clinton of marrying one of George Soros’s nephews before accusing Soros of conspiring with Nazis to kill his fellow Jews.
ABC is in a bind here: on the one hand, they rebooted Roseanne to try to appeal to “middle America” and found they had a solid hit on their hands when Trump voters tuned in to support one of their own. It is in their interest to encourage Roseanne Barr to continue being political in a very public sphere. However, it is not in their interest to employ a star who is literally tweeting that African-Americans are apes and encouraging anti-semitic Soros conspiracy nonsense. That’s what you call a fucking p.r. nightmare.
Furthermore, it’s not fair to Barr’s castmates, who are — reasonably — going to be asked about Barr’s batshit insane political opinions and whether or not they agree with them. I’m not saying that Laurie Metcalf, and John Goodman, and Sara Gilbert are aligned with Roseanne Barr or that Barr shouldn’t be allowed to hold her own political beliefs as crazy as they may be. But I am saying that they willingly are participating on a show that bears her name and which deliberately blurs the lines between Roseanne Barr the person and Roseanne Connor the character. At some point, they are going to have to answer why they remain on a series that promotes the world view of an openly racist conspiracy nut. And if the Arrested Development fiasco from last week has taught us anything, it’s that when you try to defend a monster or protect a series from the taint of said monster, you drag yourself down with them.
And in the time I wrote all of that, Roseanne Barr clearly felt some pressure to apologize:
Oh fuck off, Roseanne. This wasn’t about Jarrett’s “looks,” this was about her race and your broken conspiracy theory-riddled brain.
It’s your move, ABC. We’ll be watching.
There’s not much other TV news because everyone goes to the beach on Memorial Day weekend, so here are a few interesting pieces about Sunday’s Westworld episode, with the shocking REDACTED FOR SPOILERS:
Pay attention to the aspect ratio.
What we know, what we kinda know, and what we don’t know.
I find it fascinating that other people didn’t like Shōgun World — I LOVED Shōgun World and think it is what makes the second season better than the first.
And here are a couple of pieces about Killing Eve‘s finale:
The series was a magic trick in that you are left wondering “how did they do that?”
Jodie Comer talks a bit about playing Villanelle and that surprising ending. I really didn’t see it coming.
I agree that a Parks and Recreation reboot would undo a story that was already concluded, and I would absolutely watch any project that brought the cast and Mike Schur back together. And, anyway, it’s very unlikely they could get Beyoncé to play the mayor of Pawnee.
Here’s an interview with the director of The Bachelorette that offers some interesting insight into what actually goes into production of the show. Mountain goats are involved.
Did I mention yesterday that Amazon has officially picked up The Expanse for a fourth season? I meant to mention that, but I don’t think I mentioned that.
Get better soon, Ramona, you loon.
R.I.P.
Mike McCormick, News anchor & Aaron Smeltzer, Photojournalist
Bob Fuss, CBS newsman and radio journalist
Cornelia Frances, Australian soap opera actress
WATCH THIS
Arrested Development: Well, season five is here. Let’s all try to enjoy it with this terrible taste in our mouths. Netflix
America’s Got Talent: Let the auditions begin. Season premiere. 7 p.m., NBC
Beat Shazam: Season premiere. 7 p.m., Fox
Love Connection: Season premiere. 8 p.m., Fox
Animal Kingdom: The boys figure out what to do in the wake of the shooting in the season premiere. 8 p.m., TNT
Queen Sugar: Season premiere. 9 p.m., OWN
World of Dance: Season premiere. 9 p.m., NBC
Late Night: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Keri Russell, Pamela Adlon, Maddie Poppe
| TUES. | 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 |
| ABC | Roseanne (repeat) |
The Middle (repeat) |
black-ish (repeat) |
black-ish (repeat) |
Splitting Up Together (repeat) |
Splitting Up Together (repeat) |
| CBS | NCIS (repeat) |
Bull (repeat) |
48 Hours: NCIS (new) |
| CW | The Flash (repeat) |
The 100 (new) |
Local |
| FOX | Beat Shazam (new) |
Love Connection (new) |
News/Local |
| NBC | America’s Got Talent (new) |
World of Dance (new) |
I feel for the rest of the cast