As most of you have heard by now, the second season of the "Roseanne" reboot has been cancelled, due to the star of the show Roseanne Barr's racist comment she made on Twitter.
The comment was about a former Obama administration aide Valerie Jarrett, comparing her to an ape because of her being Muslim. Barr, an avid Trump supporter, often makes comments about politics via Twitter.
This comment was one step too far in the eyes of the show's network, ABC. The "Roseanne" reboot had become a hit since returning to television, but now it has been canceled by the network because they do not agree with her views.
Barr did not realize the impact her tweet had, and immediately released an apology tweet after. However, the show was canceled.
There seems to be a mixed reaction from the situation, fans disappointed by the cancellation of the show, and fans angry at the actress for her comments. However, ABC was completely in the right for canceling the show because it is a typical move for a network to do if they do not agree with what their employees are putting out on social media.
I think we forget that these actors are people outside of the characters they play, and they need to be responsible for the content they are putting out online, verbally, or in interviews. Networks have every right to drop shows because if it does not shed good light for their brand and values, then they have to do something about it.
I was surprised by Barr's actions, as I think many people were, but in this case, I think it was an act of stupidity and inconsideration. Barr recently tried to blame it on taking the insomnia medication Ambien before tweeting the comment, but that company was not going to take the heat for it. The company who makes Ambient issued a tweet in response saying:
The company made a statement saying that racism is not a side effect of their medication, causing Barr to take even more heat for that comment.
After all is said and done, I do not think the show will ever be picked up again unless it is on another network. Clearly, Barr has some damage control she needs to do before she will be seen on television again.
Situations like these really make you think about how much celebrities have an impact because they have such a big outreach you would think they would watch what they say. However, she has a right to free speech and her opinions, so at the end of the day it can be debated.
I just hope she learned a lesson from this because I know she definitely hurt some people in the process, including herself and her reputation.