Roseanne Barr Isn’t Going Anywhere. The Controversial Comedian on Bob Iger, J.K. Rowling and Not Being Sorry About That Tweet: ‘Never Apologize to the Left’

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As Roseanne Barr remembers it, God told her to do it.

Over Memorial Day weekend in 2018, she found it hard to sleep. Earlier that day, she reached out to Bruce Helford, the chief writer of the rebooted “Roseanne” series, to ask about her return schedule to the ABC show’s writers’ room. The program, a massive ratings success, had been renewed for another season.

She remembers him saying, “‘The writers are back now, and they’d be delighted if you stopped by to greet them,'” she recounted. “But when I heard that, I reacted angrily, saying something like, ‘How dare you! You stole my writers’ room for my second season. How dare you. I won’t return. How dare you.’ Then I declared, ‘I’m going to end this show with a bang so massive it will be remembered forever, even if it costs me everything.’

Instead, she dozed off, but shortly after, something disrupted her slumber that was induced by Ambien and alcohol.

Previously, I had been troubled by dreams of not returning to that production, and it seemed as if God interrupted my sleep. As usual, my laptop lay beside me in bed, and upon opening it, I found a post featuring an image side-by-side of Valerie Jarrett and Helena Bonham Carter, both adorned in Ari’s ‘Planet of the Apes’ makeup, appearing strikingly similar, leading me to comment. This discovery occurred amidst my three-month dialogue with Iranian journalists discussing the erosion of women’s rights there due to the Iran deal. This revelation enraged me.

Jarrett, born in Iran, played an essential part in the Iran nuclear deal of 2015 during the Obama administration. When responding to a meme, Barr posted a comment using her own caption: “Muslim Brotherhood and Planet of the Apes produced a child = VJ.” She still considers this as the ideal caption for the side-by-side images. Barr stated that she wasn’t aware at the time that Jarrett is African American.

Rapid action was taken by ABC. In just a few hours, the former president of ABC Entertainment, Channing Dungey, canceled the show, removed a planned repeat for that evening’s schedule, and halted its awards season promotions. However, seven years on, Barr shows no regret over her social media controversy.

Regarding the strong reactions and continuous media attention I received, she casually remarks, ‘I believe God guided me to act as I did, and what I did was similar to a nuclear bomb.’ In other words, she intended for her tweet to spark widespread curiosity about Valerie Jarrett and the Iran deal, as over 2 million Americans searched those terms on Google that day.

In a new documentary titled “Roseanne Is America,” the once-reigning TV ratings champion openly ponders over the events that resulted in her departure from Hollywood. This film, directed by Joel Gilbert, traces Barr’s journey from her upbringing in an Orthodox Jewish household in Utah to her meteoric rise to fame as a single-name celebrity, culminating in her dramatic downfall. The turning point was marked by Dungey labeling one of Barr’s posts as “abhorrent,” “repugnant,” and contradictory to their values. Just a year earlier, Disney CEO Bob Iger had invited Barr for lunch and attempted to re-establish her on the network; however, he ultimately approved her termination.

In Barr’s thoughts, she saw no impropriety in the tweet that ultimately disrupted her return and sparked anger among many professionals within the industry.

She explains that they misunderstood her tweet as being racist when it was actually referring to ‘Planet of the Apes,’ a film about fascism. Rod Serling himself stated that the movie symbolizes the Jews in Germany. It’s not about Black people, Bob,” she clarifies.

The following year, Jimmy Kimmel made a joke about ABC’s lineup at the upfronts, saying, “Do you remember when we got you all excited for ‘Take Two’, ‘The Kids Are Alright’, ‘Roseanne’, and ‘Speechless’ last year? Well, those shows have been canceled, deemed racist, or canceled due to controversy.

According to Barr, Iger encouraged Kimmel to criticize her. “I’m not sure if he recognizes himself when he looks in the mirror,” she comments about Iger. “And then he gets Jimmy to label me as racist. Didn’t Kimmel do blackface, after all?” (Barr is aware that her question has an answer. The revival of “Roseanne” brings back a clip featuring Kimmel in blackface, as well as another one with Joy Behar.)

Kimmel challenges Barr’s account of the situation. “For over twenty years,” he states, “Bob Iger has never commented on the humor I use during the upfront events. Just as before, I hope Roseanne finds success.

Regarding Iger, Barr mentioned a controversy at Disney that happened a year after she was dismissed, which revolved around a photograph from late 2019. At a corporate gathering, Disney’s top executive, Bob Iger, unintentionally caused a stir when he referred to a picture of the then-chief diversity officer, Latondra Newton, riding a white horse using the phrase “a horse of a different color.” (Later on, Newton stated, “Bob apologized to me afterwards and we had a constructive discussion. I forgave him. Bob has a strong and undeniable history as an advocate for diversity, and our relationship remains positive today. I consider him a friend.”)

Barr comments that ‘He who wields a sword will fall by it,’ and wishes Newton had gotten him dismissed from his position. If Barr were in Newton’s shoes, Barr himself would have faced dismissal for simply saying the phrase ‘white horse.’

Disney’s Chief Communications Officer, Kristina Schake, issued a statement clarifying the situation: “This comparison is incorrect. The incident occurred during a private gathering at an ironic awards ceremony. Bob Iger made a joke that he quickly recognized might be misunderstood. He immediately apologized, and both the company and Bob dealt with this matter responsibly, professionally, and sensitively.

When Barr reflects upon those who celebrated her downfall, she claims they’re attempting to divert attention away from their own prejudice.

She clarifies, ‘This is a basic principle of Marxism. Accuse your opponents of doing what you yourself do, and create divisions among the populace based on social class.’

According to Barr’s point of view, the revival of “Roseanne” was meant to bring together people based on their working-class background at a time when America was significantly divided during Donald Trump’s first term as president. From the beginning, Barr, who supported Trump, claimed she encountered opposition from executives.

She returned to television prior to the 2018 midterm elections, expressing her discomfort with America’s racial divisions and stereotyping of Arabs as terrorists on her show during its tenth season. She criticized a storyline where her character was afraid of Muslim neighbors being potential terrorists, stating that the producers were racist and classist. When she announced her character would have a black granddaughter, they reacted negatively. Her plan was to introduce her son, his black wife, and their daughter into the house. As she has black people and Democrats in her real-life family, she aimed to demonstrate that Americans can love despite differences, which she believes is the way everyone should. She knew they wouldn’t allow it, but as before, she declared that she would do it and become number one, forcing them to either kiss her feet or fire her.

Instead, the network wanted to introduce an LGBTQ+ dynamic into the Conners household.

Sara Gilbert enters and remarks, “It seems that parents today are more concerned about their children identifying as gender-fluid, and I imagine it’s Darlene who would return home with her gender-fluid son wearing dresses. My initial reaction was something like, ‘Oh dear,'” she admits.

Barr remained steadfast about the Black granddaughter plotline and developed a fondness for Jayden Rey, the actress chosen to portray the future family member of the group.

Whoopi Goldberg praised my work on ‘The View,’ but she found the scripts for [Rey] unacceptable – they were incredibly racist, snide, and elitist. So I exclaimed, ‘We need Black writers here! She won’t tolerate this nonsense.’ Barr continued, explaining that she reached out to Wanda Sykes because of her humor, hoping she could bring in other young, talented Black female writers she may have mentored. However, it seems Sykes wasn’t available.

Prior to Sykes’ arrival, the writers’ room was predominantly populated by white males, with Whitney Cummings serving as a notable exception. However, Barr did not find common ground with her fellow female comedian.

Whitney Cummings was pushed onto the scene by Tom Werner, apparently due to her previous TV shows that were not successful, following what seems like the Peter principle. She would secretly record John Goodman during downtime on set and post him with controversial jokes on her Instagram account. I told her to remove it, and I chose not to renew her contract. She publicly labeled me as racist because of a tweet. I find her distasteful. Now she’s leaning towards MAGA ideologies because it’s financially beneficial.” (Over the past year, Cummings has criticized Democrats with some of her acts, although she has never identified herself as MAGA.) The representatives for Cummings did not respond to a request for comment.

Fundamentally, Barr feels excluded by ABC due to her refusal to include an LGBTQ+ grandchild storyline in her show. It might seem logical for her to empathize with J.K. Rowling, given the transphobia allegations against her. However, that’s not the case.

Indeed, she didn’t stand by me when I needed her, yet here I am, expressing my feelings. She’s an accomplished artist, and yes, she faced scrutiny because of her gender and her wisdom, but there are other women who bravely advocated for that law [banning puberty blockers for transgender minors in the U.K.]. They deserve our admiration, not her. And rest assured, she’s not J.K. Rowling.

Following Barr’s dismissal, ABC chose to proceed with a spinoff series. The lead character was written off through an off-screen opioid overdose. “The Conners,” which premiered without Barr in October 2018, garnered a strong audience of 10.5 million viewers during its debut. However, it didn’t quite reach the ratings potential of the “Roseanne” reboot (which had 18.4 million viewers upon its premiere, making it the highest-rated comedy in close to four years).

Barr expresses that she doesn’t feel justified by the ratings drop. Instead, she felt angered because her rights were taken away and her character was killed off. Unlike J.K. Rowling’s characters, this wasn’t the case. She finds it foolish and short-sighted, and she can’t fathom how they explain this decision to their shareholders since they terminated her before any sponsors had pulled out.

Despite the past events, Barr is already venturing into new comedic territory, collaborating with Allan Stephan, a veteran from “Roseanne” and “Arli$$”. In an interview with EbMaster, she described the upcoming series as a blend between “The Roseanne Show” and “The Sopranos”, focusing on a small-town Alabama farmer who takes it upon himself to combat drug cartels and China. As our conversation unfolds, she’s moments away from diving into the production of this secretive project. She has no second thoughts about the tweet that caused her Hollywood exile, but if given another chance, she would reconsider her initial apology.

In my critique, I found myself regrettably expressing an apology, which unfortunately seemed to escalate the situation. It’s a lesson learned: avoid apologizing to the left, as they might use your contrition as an opportunity to further trample you in the mud. Interestingly, all the young female characters banded together in this film, united in their quest to bring down a woman who had shattered so many barriers for women, demonstrating the power of sisterhood and the consequences of stepping outside societal norms.

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2025-06-06 23:48