Getty Roseanne Barr has come under fire after a racist tweet toward one of former President Obama's top aides Valerie Jarrett.
Roseanne Barr, the star of ABC’s hit reboot of “Roseanne,” apologized after what many people are calling a racist Twitter rant Tuesday morning that has since been deleted.
Barr wrote: “Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.” Barr was responding to a comment about Jarrett, a top former aide to president Obama. She later deleted the tweet and then announced she’s “now leaving Twitter,” according to CNN.
Barr was allegedly replying to a post from a user that accused Jarrett, a long-serving adviser to the president, of covering up the Obama administration’s alleged “misdeeds,” according to the Guardian.
Here’s what you need to know:
Social Media Immediately Lit Up With Criticism of Both Barr and ABC After the Tweet was Posted, with Many Demanding a Boycott of the Advertisers Supporting the Reboot
Consulting producer and comedian Wanda Sykes claims she will not be returning to the show. Many in the Twittersphere are calling for a boycott of Roseanne’s advertisers after the comment.
Sykes had been a consulting producer on the most recent season of the revived ABC comedy starring Barr.
I will not be returning to @RoseanneOnABC.
According to E News, in another since-deleted tweet, Barr defended the comment when some online called it racist, retorting, “Muslims r NOT a race.” She then issued an apology, tweeting, “I apologize. I am now leaving Twitter.”
Other celebrities responded on Twitter with their own thoughts on Barr’s post, with Don Cheadle tweeting: “you can take @RoseanneOnABC out of racism, but you can’t take the racism out of @therealroseanne”
ABC Released a Statement Canceling the Roseanne Reboot Shortly After the News Broke on Twitter
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Channing Dungey, president of ABC Entertainment, issued a statement Tuesday saying the show has been canceled in response to Roseanne Barr’s tweets:
“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show,” ABC said. The cancellation comes just a few short months after the show premiered to huge ratings.
On Monday, Barr also attacked Chelsea Clinton on Twitter, writing “Chelsea Soros Clinton” and claiming the former first daughter is connected to George Soros. Barr said Soros wants to “overthrow” the “US constitutional republic by buying/backing candidates 4 local district attorney races who will ignore US law & favor ‘feelings’ instead-and call everyone who is alarmed by that ‘racist,’” according to the Guardian.
After Clinton replied with a tweet of her own, Barr apologized in sarcastic fashion. “Sorry to have tweeted incorrect info about you!,” she wrote, again invoking Soros, a frequent target of Trump and the right. “I Please forgive me! By the way, George Soros is a nazi who turned in his fellow Jews 2 be murdered in German concentration camps & stole their wealth-were you aware of that? But, we all make mistakes, right Chelsea?”
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information is known.