ABC found no humor in Roseanne Barr‘s “joke” about Obama Administration official Valerie Jarrett. Just hours after Barr deleted her racist tweet and apologized to Jarrett, ABC canceled Roseanne.
The sitcom returned to huge ratings earlier this year and ended as the most-watched comedy on all of TV during the 2017-2018 season. ABC renewed the show for a 13-episode second season in March.
“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show,” said Channing Dungey, president, ABC Entertainment in a statement.
In the hours between the tweets and ABC’s cancellation, the story was a hot topic on cable news. During one exchange on MSNBC, Andrea Mitchell asked her colleague Joy Ann Reid, “what do you have to do on social media to get fired from a top-rated show on an American broadcast network?”
.@mitchellreports addresses Roseanne controversy on air:
"What do you have to do on social media to get fired from a top rated show on an American broadcast network?" pic.twitter.com/y1LEZutf0A
— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) May 29, 2018
Some noted the irony in the question considering Reid was under fire not too long ago for homophobic statements made on her blog nearly 10 years ago. Reid devoted her April 28 broadcast to discussing the posts telling viewers, “I am truly, truly sorry.”
It just so happens Reid and Chris Hayes are hosting an MSNBC town hall tonight called Everyday Racism in America.