ABC cancels ‘Roseanne’ following tweet

NEW YORK (AP) — ABC canceled its hit reboot of “Roseanne” on Tuesday following star Roseanne Barr’s tweet that referred to former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett as a product of the Muslim Brotherhood and the “Planet of the Apes.”

Barr had apologized and deleted her Monday-night tweet, calling it a “bad joke,” but the damage had already been done.

Barr was also dumped by her talent agency, ICM Partners.

The revival of the comedy was a surprise smash for ABC, owned by the Walt Disney Co., and was counted on to lead the network’s fortunes next season. Its first new episode in March was seen by more than 25 million people, with delayed viewing counted in, numbers that are increasingly rare in network television. ABC expected advertisers to pay millions of dollars for the chance to be seen during commercial breaks on television’s most popular comedy after “The Big Bang Theory.”

Three weeks earlier, “Roseanne” was the toast of ABC’s annual presentation of its programming plans to advertisers. Sherwood even joked then: “If anyone came to play a drinking game based on how many times we mention ‘Roseanne,’ you’re welcome.”

Hulu and the Laff comedy channel said Tuesday they were pulling re-runs of “Roseanne” from their schedules.

The cancellation has no clear precedent in television history, said David Bianculli, professor at Rowan University in New Jersey. The closest analogy is CBS pulling the plug on the Smothers Brothers variety show due to their anti-war views in the late 1960s and the same network not renewing “Lou Grant” at its peak, which star Ed Asner always contended was due to his outspoken political beliefs.