ABC canceled the hit sitcom “Roseanne” on Tuesday hours after the show’s star and co-creator, Roseanne Barr, posted a racist tweet about a former top adviser to President Barack Obama.
Early on Tuesday, Ms. Barr posted a comment about Valerie Jarrett, an African-American woman who was a senior adviser to Mr. Obama throughout his presidency and considered one of his most influential aides, that said if “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.”
Hours later, ABC canceled Ms. Barr’s show, which had ended its successful comeback season last week and was expected to return in the fall for 13 episodes.
“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show,” ABC’s entertainment president, Channing Dungey, said in a statement. Ms. Dungey was appointed to her current role in February 2016, becoming the first black entertainment president of a major broadcast television network.
The sudden cancellation of a hit show with some of the highest ratings for a new series in years stunned an industry in which high ratings have become increasingly elusive.
Robert A. Iger, the chief executive of the Walt Disney Company, ABC’s corporate parent, shared Ms. Dungey’s statement on his own Twitter account, adding: “There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing.”
Here's a screenshot of the tweet that was deleted by Ms Barr:
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