Up until last week, Roseanne Barr was doing pretty well for herself. Having already had a successful run with her self-titled sitcom in the 1990s, she managed to defy the odds and bring it back to yet more success and was pulling in large audiences each week.
In fact, it seemed likely that the actress would have gone on to enjoy many more years in the spotlight... had she not tweeted something incredibly racist.
Making a comment in which she compared Valerie Jarrett (and African American woman) to an ape, Barr finally overstepped the line, and ABC made the decision to pull her show from their network. Barr quickly issued an apology, saying: "I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans. I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks. I should have known better. Forgive me-my joke was in bad taste" - but it wasn't enough. The damage was done.
However, that didn't stop her from "begging" the network to reconsider.
"I begged Ben Sherwood at ABC 2 let me apologize & make amends," she tweeted. "I begged them not to cancel the show. I told them I was willing to do anything & asked 4 help in making things right. I'd worked doing publicity 4 them 4 free for weeks, traveling, thru bronchitis. I begged 4 ppls jobs."
In a later post, she went on to relay exactly how the conversation went down:
"He said: what were you thinking when you did this? I said: I thought she was white, she looks like my family! He scoffed & said: "what u have done is egregious, and unforgivable.' I begged 4 my crews jobs. Will I ever recover from this pain? omg."
After sending out those tweets, Barr said that she would be taking a break from Twitter "for a while". However, she said exactly the same thing a couple of days ago, and returned within hours.
ABC has made it quite clear that they want nothing to do with Barr anymore, with Channing Dungey, the network’s president of entertainment, saying: "Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values and we have decided to cancel her show."
What's more, some of Barr's former co-stars have come forward to express their feelings on the matter - and they don't seem too happy with her, either.
Michael Fishman (D.J. Conner) tweeted on Tuesday to let his on-screen mother know what he thought about the situation:
"My character was designed to represent the inclusive nature of my views," he said. "To represent portions of society often marginalized. In this moment it is important to be clear. We must stand up against bias, hatred, bigotry and ignorance to make society a better place for all."
He then went on to share a long statement about how he was personally going to deal with the situation:
John Goodman, on the other hand, has decided to remain silent on the issue. "I would rather say nothing, then to cause more trouble," he said.
Barr was seriously unhappy with the criticism she'd received from co-stars and said that she'd been "thrown under the bus" in the wake of what had happened. But, at the same time, she is claiming to take accountability for her actions by issuing constant apologies.
With all this back-and-forth, then, it's difficult to know whether Barr wants to apologise, to excuse herself, or simply to do whatever it takes to get her show back. Unfortunately for her, it looks like ABC have made themselves very clear on the matter now - and they want no part in her drama.