ABC Suspends ‘Roseanne’ Emmy Campaign in Wake of Cancellation

Following a racist tweet by star Roseanne Barr and the show’s abrupt cancellation, ABC suspended the revival sitcom’s Emmy campaign for the 2018 awards season.

Shortly after the alphabet network decided to cancel its hit revival series, ABC announced it would be suspending its For Your Consideration campaign on behalf of the series.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the first evidence will come Sunday, when talent from the show will no longer participate in a day-long event promoting talent from several ABC Entertainment/ABC Studios series to Television Academy members on the Disney lot.

The network had previously announced that Roseanne would be showcased with a screening and panel featuring cast members John Goodman, Sara Gilbert, Lecy Goranson, Michael Fishman, Estelle Parsons, Johnny Galecki and Sarah Chalke, followed by an “after-party” at a venue resembling Roseanne Conner’s house.

Barr was not expected to attend the event, as she was not set to return to Los Angeles until late July or early August.

The network also removed the series from its press site Tuesday morning following the controversy.

ABC was forced to take action on their No. 1 comedy series in the key 18-49 demographic after Barr took to Twitter Tuesday morning and made an offensive joke against President Barack Obama’s former adviser Valerie Jarrett.

“Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=[Valerie Jarrett],” the tweet read. After the tweet garnered an avalanche of backlash online, it was later deleted.

ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey announced later Tuesday the network had decided to cancel the series.

“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant, and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show,” read Dungey’s brief statement to press.

Even many of Barr’s co-workers and usual defenders, including Sara Gilbert and Wanda Sykes, renounced the tweet.

Jarrett worked as the Director of the Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs in the Obama administration, from 2009 to 2017. She was born to American parents in Shiraz, Iran, where her father ran a children’s hospital. She and her family moved back to the United States when she was seven years old.

Barr later apologized to Jarrett and others, before announcing she would, once again, be leaving Twitter.

“I apologize. I am now leaving Twitter,” she wrote, adding in a separate tweet, “I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans. 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.”

Disney CEO Bob Iger also came out in support of ABC’s decision to cancel the series, saying, “There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing.”