May 29 (UPI) — ABC has canceled “Roseanne” after the titular star’s tweets Tuesday.
“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show,” said ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey in a statement.
Wanda Sykes announced earlier Tuesday on Twitter that she will not return to ABC’s revival of Roseanne after Barr compared Valerie Jarrett, an African-American former adviser to then-President Barack Obama, to the film Planet of the Apes.
“I will not be returning to @RoseanneOnABC,” Sykes tweeted. The comedian was a head writer for Roseanne, which returned for a tenth season in March.
Wanda Sykes
✔@iamwandasykes
I will not be returning to @RoseanneOnABC.
Barr was met with criticism after she likened Jarrett, who is African-American, to the Muslim Brotherhood, a conservative organization in Egypt, and the film Planet of the Apes.
Roseanne Barr
✔@therealroseanne
I apologize. I am now leaving Twitter.
“Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj,” Barr wrote in response to a comment about Jarrett on Twitter. Barr then apologized for the statement and said she was leaving Twitter.
Roseanne Barr
✔@therealroseanne
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.
“I apologize. I am now leaving Twitter,” she said.
“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,” Barr continued.
Roseanne had been renewed for an 11th season in March.
