Dear Roseanne Barr,
Roseanne, you and I both know that you've come under fire from all directions - people from the Left and the Right - after those horrendous tweets you sent about former Obama advisor, Valerie Jarett. You tried to claim that you were under the influence of Ambien at two in the morning this past Memorial Day, but then, of course, Sanofi - the drug company behind Ambien, clapped back at you saying , "While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication."
Look, you've said so even yourself that fans should not defend you for what you have said. And you're completely right, fans shouldn't defend you. What you have done Roseanne is not simply just write a few tweets... but you have also disappointed me and all of your fans who believed in your show. I know that sounds like an exaggerated statement right there, but let me tell you what I mean by that.
When I first learned that "Roseanne" was going to come back on the air after a twenty-plus year hiatus, I was ecstatic. I remember growing up and watching rerun shows of the early seasons of "Roseanne" on DVD with my mother before she passed away. I remember every weekend my mother and I would watch you and the rest of the "Roseanne" cast be the television equivalent of the everyday family. While yes, my family was small growing up, I still nevertheless felt as if that didn't matter because the Connors made you a part of the family. We viewers would watch as Roseanne Connor struggled with making financial ends meet (which frankly was a mirror image of my single mother) and simply kicked ass while being her unapologetic true self in her household.
And I know that many people will argue that you, Roseanne Barr, were one of the same with your character. Perhaps that reason in of itself is one of the reasons you got fired from ABC through the "Roseanne" cancellation. But, listen to me when I say that you've changed, and so has America.
America isn't the America it was when "Roseanne" first aired in the late 1980s. No longer does America live with archaic technology, nor do we have Ronald Reagan in office. Even though we have a sitting Republican president now, just like at the start of your show, there are some things that are just purely unacceptable regardless of the times, and one of those things is racism. Racism is among one of the few values in America that frankly should be non-existent, but unfortunately, you have proven this is not the case. Say "Oh, I'm just an idiot" all you want Roseanne, however you brought this on yourself.
You must've known at some point during your Ambien-fuelled 2 a.m. Twitter rant that your tweet would've had repercussions. You must've known that by blatantly insulting someone based on their race would've reached ABC executives at some point in time. You must've known that by hitting "Tweet" that you'd actually perhaps be joining the likes of Kathy Griffin and other shunned comedians who were also just trying to "make a joke." You must've known that you would be disappointing your fans somehow by sending that tweet.
But no, you didn't. You thought you were invincible, untouchable, perhaps? I'm not sure what your mindset was. All I know is that the warm sentimental feeling I felt throughout season ten of "Roseanne" is gone.
Goodbye to the number one show on TV that gave conservative values a representation in a liberal driven media. Goodbye to "Roseanne", I guess I'll just settle for reruns and ignore your other Twitter storm rants on your profile feed ... because I can only now romanticize about an America that wasn't so divisive as it is currently.
Sincerely,
A "Roseanne" Fan
