Roseanne Canceled at ABC Following Twitter Backlash

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ABC has decided to cancel the newly revived sitcom Roseanne following a racist comment made by star Roseanne Barr on Twitter.

Channing Dungey, president of ABC Entertainment, said: “Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show.”

On Twitter, Disney CEO Robert Iger supported Dungey’s decision, commenting, “There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing.”

Barr had sent a tweet in which she describes Valerie Jarrett, a former adviser to President Barack Obama, as someone who looks like the “Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby.”

She initially defended the remark as “a joke” and tweeted: “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.” She also said she was leaving Twitter.