ABC is canceling its Roseanne reboot following backlash from Roseanne Barr's racist tweets aimed at Barack Obama's former aide Valerie Jarrett. "Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show," ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey said in a statement.
On Monday morning Barr tweeted that Jarrett, who is African American and was born in Iran, is the result of when “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby.” She made this racist and Islamophobic comment in response to a fake news story claiming Obama’s CIA spied on the French president, even though Jarrett was not mentioned in the story once.
ABC's announcement follows Wanda Sykes' announcement that she would be leaving the show. Sykes served as a head writer for the reboot, which premiered back in March.
Barr later walked back her comments, calling them a "joke."
ABC's decision is both swift and somewhat surprising, considering Roseanne's high ratings and huge popularity. The reboot debuted to an audience of 18.2 million people, and garnered praise from Donald Trump, who personally called Barr to congratulate her. The network aired nine episodes before ABC's decided to pull the plug.
Disney CEO Robert Iger also commented on the network's decision in a tweet, writing, "There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing."
