Emmys Takes Jab at Roseanne Barr in Opening Number

During the opening sketch celebrating the most diverse nominees in Emmy history at the 70th Primetime Emmys, there was a joke about Roseanne Barr.

Television stars sang jokingly about how the Television Academy “solved” Hollywood’s diversity problem.
“As for politics, you know exactly were we stand,” the group sang, before Tituss Burgess chimed in, “with Roseanne!”

Kristen Bell then stopped the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt star, telling him, “No!”

The song went quiet and the crowd laughed.

“Did something happen?” Burgess jokingly asked before the song continued.

This was just the beginning of jokes about Roseanne during the early portion of the awards show. During his opening monologue with Michael Che, Colin Jost joked, “Roseanne was cancelled by herself but was picked up by white nationalists.”

Che then made a joke about Laurie Metcalf getting a nomination for her role in the Roseanne revival. “It’s like nominating a cop for a BET Award. It doesn’t happen,” he said.

The hosts also joked about Barr’s plans to move to Israel. “I mean, damn, how messed up is your life when you have to go to the Middle East just to get peace of mind?” Che joked.

Roseanne was cancelled in May after Barr sent a racist tweet about Valerie Jarrett, a former aide for President Barack Obama. Metcalf received the show’s only major nomination, and is competing in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.

Since Roseanne was such a success for ABC last season though, the network ordered a spin-off, The Conners starring Metcalf, Sara Gilbert and John Goodman. The series will start after the off-screen death of Barr’s character.

The Conners premieres on Tuesday, Oct. 16 on ABC.

Photo credit: ABC