Roseanne Barr’s racist meltdown
Sitcom star Roseanne Barr’s repugnant racist tweet has demolished her reputation and cost her colleagues dearly
IT WAS one of the hit shows of the 1990s and made a household name of the woman at the helm – a fast-talking, wise-cracking, working-class mom with an infectious laugh and a comfortingly non-Hollywood body. The sitcom Roseanne lived for nine seasons and was as popular in South Africa as it was in the US and dozens of other countries around the world. So when a reboot was announced people were excited – Roseanne was back.
In America it rocketed up the ratings and was promptly renewed for a second season. But it’s all over now. Roseanne has been killed. And it’s all the fault of the woman who made the show live large in millions of living rooms.
Roseanne Barr’s recent racist Twitter tirade forced the Disney-ABC Television Group to can the show, resulting in hun- dreds of people losing their jobs, and making her one of the most reviled people in entertainment.
The 65-year-old comedian was also promptly dropped by her agents, ICM Partners. In an internal note to employees leaked to the Hollywood Reporter, agency bosses expressed their distress at the “disgraceful and unacceptable tweet by Roseanne Barr this morning. What she wrote is antithetical to our core values. Effective immediately, Roseanne Barr is no longer a client.”
The badly constructed tweet sent shockwaves around the world. She wrote, “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby = vj,” referring to Barack Obama’s former senior adviser, Valerie Jarrett.
The backlash was instant. Everyone from her co-stars and producers to Hollywood stars condemned her in the strongest terms.
“Roseanne’s comments about Valerie Jarrett are abhorrent and don’t reflect the beliefs of our cast and crew or anyone associated with our show,” said Sara Gilbert, who played Roseanne’s onscreen daughter Darlene.
Even Tom Arnold, Roseanne’s real-life ex-husband who co-starred on the show from 1989 to 1993, praised the decision to can the series. “Tough decision with financial consequences for [Bob Iger’s Walt Disney Company] but right for America,” he tweeted.
“You can take @RoseanneOnABC out of racism but you can’t take the racism out of @therealroseanne,” actor Don Cheadle tweeted.
Roseanne donned the proverbial sackcloth and ashes, blaming sleeping pill Ambien for being behind Jarrett comment. “Guys, I did something unforgivable,” she tweeted. “It was two in the morning and I was Ambien tweeting. I went too far and it was egregious. Indefensible.”
Ambien’s manufacturer sent out a dry reply: “While all pharmaceutical treatments have side-effects, racism isn’t a known one of any of [our] medication.”
Roseanne went on to announce she’d begged the studio not to cancel the show and to save the jobs of everyone affected.
“I told them I was willing to do anything and asked for help in making things right,” she said on Twitter. “I’d work doing publicity for free, travelling through bronchitis . . . I begged for people’s jobs.”
She then also bizarrely claimed her Jarrett remarks had nothing to do with race. “I thought she was white! She looks like my family! I honestly thought she was Jewish and Persian.”
ROSEANNE is no rookie when it comes to tapping out controversial tweets. She’s a notorious conspiracy theorist and an avid Donald Trump supporter who’s been raising eyebrows in the US for years.
Recently she came under fire for claiming David Hogg, a 16-year-old survivor of the Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, was giving a Nazi salute when he raised his fist at the March For Our Lives rally attended by thousands of high school students. In 2012 she was the subject of intense criticism because of comments she made about transgender bathroom rights. “Women don’t want your penises forced in our faces in private bathrooms. Respect that,” she said.
And, on the same day she made her Valerie Jarrett comments, she weighed in on a conspiracy theory that Chelsea Clinton, daughter of Bill and Hillary, was married to a nephew of business magnate George Soros. “Chelsea Soros Clinton,” she tweeted. To which Chelsea replied, “Good morning, Roseanne. My middle name is Victoria. I imagine George Soros’ nephews are lovely people. I’m just not married to one.”
Roseanne apologised but then added, “By the way, George Soros is a Nazi who turned in his fellow Jews to be murdered in German concentration camps.”
Given her history no one should have been surprised by the latest developments, New York Times columnist Roxane Gay says.
“The cast, the writers and the producers knew what Ms Barr stood for when they agreed to work on the show,” she wrote. “Everyone involved made a decision to support the show despite its co-creator’s racism.
“They decided their ambitions or financial interests would best be served by looking the other way. It was only when she became an immediate liability that they dealt with it directly.”
THE revival of Roseanne premiered to a whopping 25 million viewers in April and was second in the ratings only to hit drama series This Is Us. But the reboot had a few notable differences to the original show. Back in the day the Conners were a blue-collar family run by a mother who had her struggles in the workforce.
The show tackled taboo topics at the time such as homophobia, teen pregnancy, masturbation and domestic abuse – issues that saw it remaining high in viewership ratings for nearly 10 years.
The Conners in the new show, however, were Trump supporters – which isn’t that hard to believe given that the American president campaigned hard on jobs for all, and the family had constant employment crises.
But there was controversy from the get-go, especially when Roseanne’s husband, Dan (played by John Goodman), lost his job to illegal immigrants and Roseanne expressed her concerns about her new Muslim neighbours being terrorists.
There were signs of the show striving for inclusivity though, including the fact that one of their grandchildren – the daughter of their son, DJ – was black.
As the fallout from the Jarrett drama spiralled, Roseanne expressed concern that Jayden Rey, who plays the child, would “think I don’t love her because she is African-American”.
“I’m ashamed of myself,” she tweeted. “It’s the most gawdawful painful thing. I can’t cave in though.”
The show certainly has caved in – and the producers are now faced with paying out Roseanne’s co-stars for the cancelled 13-episode second season of the show.
It’s not small change. The three main actors – John Goodman, Sara Gilbert and Laurie Metcalf, who plays Roseanne’s sister, Jackie – earned $300 000 (R3,7 million) an episode.
It’s estimated the studio stands to lose $1 billion (R12,5 billion) in lost advertising revenue and salaries. Still, all is not lost for the A-list co-stars. There’s been talk for a while of Laurie, who earned a best supporting actress Oscar nomination for her role in Lady Bird, doing a spin-off of Roseanne.
John and Sara are in demand too, with Hollywood writers indicating they’ll write shows specially for them.
Roseanne, meanwhile, is holed up in her Utah home. Shortly before YOU went to print, she announced she was signing off from Twitter for a while.
“I end by offering everyone involved one more apology and prayers for healing our divided nation,” she wrote. “I will continue to pray that everything for everyone goes forward and ends well for all.”
Exactly what’s in store for her going forward remains to be seen.
‘I went too far and it was egregious. Indefensible’
SOURCES: NEW YORK TIMES, DAILY MAIL, E! ENTERTAINMENT, BBC, CNN