BEVERLY HILLS, CA – JANUARY 07: Actress Roseanne Barr attends the 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 7, 2018 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)

Have you ever seen such a desperate back-peddle? Twenty-four hours since the President of ABC Entertainment in the U.S. Channing Dungey – a woman of a colour herself – cancelled Rosanne Barr’s wildly successful sitcom in the wake of the TV star’s racist tweet, Barr has gone into meltdown.

Roseanne was cancelled yesterday after Barr compared a black former Obama official – named Valerie Jarrett – to an ape. “If Muslim brotherhood and planet of the apes had a baby = vj,” she astonishingly tweeted.

While the move stood to lose the network millions of dollars, Dungey was having none of it. “Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show,” she said in a statement. A bi-product of such a fierce move unfortunately meant hundreds of people have too lost their jobs.

Instantly, Barr went into damage control, apologising in a series of tweets. “I deeply regret my comments from late last might on Twitter,” the 65-year-old said. “Above all, I want to apologise to Valerie Jarrett, as well as to the ABC and the cast and crew of the Roseanne show. I am sorry for making a thoughtless joke that does not reflect my values – I love all people and am very sorry. Today my words caused hundreds of hardworking people to lose their jobs. I also sincerely apologise to the audience that has embraced my work for decades. I apologise from the bottom of my heart and hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me.”

While there are many, many tweets and replies to other people’s tweets, Barr bizarrely seemed to go from telling her followers not to feel sorry for her because her remark was “egregious” and “indefensible” to retweeting those who defended her behaviour. When one Twitter user questioned this, Barr fired back, “cuz I’ve been punished enough and have my own story to tell.” Barr has even fired back at ordinary folk who have dared have a go at her labelling them “genius”, “bigot” and “bully”.

Perhaps the most amusing culprits to have weighed in on the saga are Donald Trump (Barr and the President have had a long friendship) and Charlie Sheen. Of course, Trump turned the event into an opportunity to call out the ABC’s supposed hypocrisy. “Bob Iger of ABC called Valerie Jarrett to let her know that “ABC does not tolerate comments like those” made by Roseanne Barr. Gee, he never called President Donald J. Trump to apologize for the HORRIBLE statements made and said about me on ABC. Maybe I just didn’t get the call?” he posted.

Sheen, saw it as an opportunity to tease a Two And A Half Men reboot.

Barr even noted her original comments were a result of “Ambien tweeting” – a reference to taking a sleeping tablet. The company who produces the drug has also made a statement via it’s Twitter account sarcastically noting it does not cause racisim.

Barr will be on Joe Rogan’s podcast on Friday (according to another one of her tweets anyway). We’ll keep you up to date.

topics: screen, roseanne, roseanne barr

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