31 May 2018 - ‘Roseanne’ Canceled by ABC After Roseanne Barr’s Racist Tweet
ABC Cancels Reboot Of 'Roseanne' After Comedian's Racist Tweet
Eric Deggans (NPR, 30/05/2018)
Hours after Roseanne Barr tweeted a racist comment about former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, ABC canceled Roseanne. What does it mean for other networks and actors called out for ugly behavior?
‘Roseanne’ Is Gone, but the Culture That Gave Her a Show Isn’t
Roxane Gay (The New York Times, 29/05/2018)
On Twitter on Tuesday, Roseanne Barr wrote that if “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby = vj.” The message referred to President Barack Obama’s former senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, and in it Ms. Barr traded on age-old racist ideas about black people and primates. Then she shared some incorrect nonsense about Chelsea Clinton marrying into the Soros family.
It was the kind of thing Roseanne Barr has been doing online for years. This time, however, the backlash was immediate and vigorous. Ms. Barr apologized for her “joke” that wasn’t really a joke and said she was leaving Twitter as if Twitter were responsible for her racist behavior. That apology was not enough. ICM Partners, her agents, stopped representing her. The comedian Wanda Sykes, who was a consulting producer on the reboot of “Roseanne,” announced that she was quitting the show. Within a matter of hours, ABC canceled the new “Roseanne” and the original show’s reruns were pulled from TV Land, CMT and the Paramount Network.
For once, a major network did the right thing. But before it did the right thing, it did the wrong thing. It is not new information that Roseanne Barr makes racist, Islamophobic and misogynistic statements and is happy to peddle all manner of dangerous conspiracy theories. ABC knew this when it greenlighted the “Roseanne” reboot. ABC knew this when it quickly renewed the reboot for a second season, buoyed, no doubt, by the show’s strong ratings.
How 'Roseanne' Had the Most Disastrous Endgame in TV History
Rob Sheffield (Rolling Stone, 30/05/2018)
Roseanne no longer holds the record for the ugliest endgame in TV history. The new champion is ... Roseanne. Back in 1997, America's favorite family flamed out with an "it was all a dream" final season that insulted any fan who ever loved the Conners. But then, like so many stories, this one got even nastier in 2018. Roseanne Barr, now a far-right pundit fond of racist tirades and conspiracy theories, rebooted the show, and Roseanne 2.0 shocked the industry in late March by blowing up into a ratings blockbuster – the biggest hit on TV.
That is, until it got the axe yesterday, when her latest bigoted rant provoked a "previously oblivious" ABC. What could sum up the state of America right now better than a celebrity compressing this whole sordid epic rebirth-and-crash arc into eight damn weeks?
Ambien maker responds to Roseanne Barr: 'Racism is not a known side effect'
Sam Wolfson (The Guardian, 30/05/2018)
The drug manufacturer Sanofi has clarified that one of its most popular medications, the sedative Ambien, does not cause racism. Sanofi tweeted: “While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication.”
The company’s statement came after Roseanne Barr partly blamed the drug for the series of racist tweets which led to her ABC sitcom being cancelled.