Roseanne Barr was fired and her show "Roseanne" was canceled by ABC in May 2018 after she posted a series of racially offensive tweets. Specifically, she tweeted a racist comment about Valerie Jarrett, a former senior advisor to President Obama, suggesting that Jarrett was the offspring of the "Muslim Brotherhood and Planet of the Apes." This tweet sparked immediate and intense backlash, with the showrunner and several colleagues condemning her remarks. ABC's entertainment president called the tweet "abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values," leading to the swift cancellation of the highly successful reboot of the show despite its top ratings. Following the tweet, Roseanne apologized but later gave various explanations, including that she was "Ambien tweeting" at 2 a.m. Nonetheless, ABC stood by its decision to cancel the show, with Disney’s CEO stating it was "the right thing" to do. The show's cancellation was nearly unprecedented due to the show's popularity and prior renewal, but the severity of the racist tweet was seen as crossing a clear line.
