There are already cracks showing in the predicted renaissance of the conservative sitcom sweeping network television. After a bombshell first season that helped bring back Tim Allen’s Last Man Standing to FOX, it’s been announced that Roseanne has been cancelled by ABC following a series of racist tweets by its star, and controversial figure, Roseanne Barr.
The cancellation came after a tweet sent out by the conservative “comedian” and known racist which equated President Obama’s senior advisor Valerie Jarett with the Muslim Brotherhood and the Planet of the Apes.
As well as implying that Chelsea Clinton, daughter of President Clinton and conservative hate-sink since the 90’s, had the middle name “Soros,” referring to George Soros, one of the alt-right’s favorite boogeymen (an insult retweeted by Donald Trump Jr.)
https://twitter.com/therealroseanne/status/1001310680111243269?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2F2018%2F5%2F29%2F17404972%2Froseanne-clinton-conspiracy-trump&tfw_site=voxdotcom
Sorry to have tweeted incorrect info about you!I Please forgive me! By the way, George Soros is a nazi who turned in his fellow Jews 2 be murdered in German concentration camps & stole their wealth-were you aware of that? But, we all make mistakes, right Chelsea?
— Roseanne Barr (@therealroseanne) May 29, 2018
The response from the internet was swift, even from within Roseanne’s cast and crew. Both co-star Sarah Gilbert and showrunner Bruce Helford put out statements condemning the remarks, and Wanda Sykes announced her departure from the show, even though all three signed on to the program centered on a woman who once called Obama’s National Security Advisor Susan Rice a “man with big swinging ape balls.”
The rapid turnaround from ABC has been a surprise, as they’ve been very defensive of their star, who once proposed nuking UC Davis, and who planned on making the show a cornerstone of their lineup. Barr even introduced Disney-ABC Television Group president Ben Sherwood at their Upfront presentation two weeks ago, hugging him and stating that he was the guy “responsible for most of [her] tweets.”
The cancellation of Roseanne comes after a successful first season that led to thinkpiece after thinkpiece about the “Roseanne effect,” and a theory that a new wave of conservative sitcoms would be taking the networks by storm. Its success led to the aforementioned revival of Tim Allen’s Last Man Standing and may have nearly killed Brooklyn Nine-Nine. The abrupt ending of the show, whose star has long been a vocal proponent of the alt-right’s “pizzagate” pedo-ring conspiracy theory, may put a damper on all that enthusiasm.
As of now, the 11th season of Roseanne will not air this fall as planned. Roseanne herself has chosen to leave Twitter, perhaps permanently, and there’s no word on what the rest of the cast might do next.
The previously imperiled Brooklyn Nine-Nine, however, will still be kicking around this fall, on NBC.
