Following a racist tweet from its star, reruns of the Roseanne revival scheduled to air on Paramount Network, TV Land and CMT will be pulled from their schedules.
Roseanne reruns are set to be canceled on the three channels starting tomorrow, according to a Viacom spokesperson.
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According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Laff broadcast network announced it would be dropping reruns of the series’ original run as well. The revival series is still available to stream on Hulu, while the original run is available to stream in its entirety on Amazon Prime.
“While we believe viewers have always distinguished the personal behavior of the actress Roseanne Barr from the television character Roseanne Conner, we are disgusted by Barr’s comments this week. Therefore, we are removing the original Roseanne series from the Laff schedule for the time being, effective immediately,” Laff said in a statement.
Barr was met with an uproar of outrage Tuesday morning when she tweeted out an offensive comment about President Barack Obama’s former adviser Valerie Jarret:
“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.
In the aftermath of her comments, Roseanne consulting producer Wanda Sykes announced she’d be leaving the show, and ABC later scrapped the revival series’ previously announced eleventh season, as well as its “For Your Consideration” campaign for the upcoming Emmy Awards.
“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant, and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show,” read ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey’s brief statement to press.
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.”
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 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.”
Ahead of an appearance on an MSNBC town hall to discuss the controversy, Jarrett released a statement concerning Barr’s comments and the resulting backlash.
“This should be a teaching moment,” Jarrett told the crowd in attendance. “I’m fine. I’m worried about all the people out there who don’t have a circle of friends and followers coming to their defense. The person who’s walking down the street minding their own business and they see somebody cling to their purse, or want to cross the street, or every black parent I know who has a boy who has to sit down and have a conversation, ‘the talk’ as we call it, and as you say, those ordinary examples of racism that happen every single day.”
She added, “I think that’s why I’m so glad to be here this evening talking with all of you.”
