When Roseanne Barr was given a chance to reboot her self-titled '80s/'90s sitcom, she was almost guaranteed to be a major success. Indeed, millions of viewers tuned in to watch the show this year, and it proved to be so popular that ABC actually renewed it for an 11th season before the 10th series had even ended.
However, Barr singlehandedly managed to convince the TV network to reverse this decision after she tweeted a racist comment at former Obama administration official, Valerie Jarrett.
"Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show," said ABC, with Bob Iger, the chief executive of Disney (which owns ABC) adding on Twitter: "There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing."
But that wasn't the only "repugnant" statement Barr made in recent weeks.
Two weeks ago, on May 29th, Barr falsely claimed that Chelsea Clinton was married to Soros’ nephew while in a Twitter spat with her. When Clinton informed the actress that she was wrong, Barr responded:
"Sorry to have tweeted incorrect info about you! By the way, George Soros is a nazi who turned in his fellow Jews 2 be murdered in German concentration camps & stole their wealth-were you aware of that? But, we all make mistakes, right Chelsea?"
The tweet spread like wildfire and was even retweeted by the president's son, Donald Trump Jr.
Strangely enough, she still hasn't deleted it, either:
Soros addressed these claims in an interview with the Washington Post, describing them as "a total fabrication", adding that they "annoy [him] greatly". He explained that he only survived the Nazi occupation of his native Hungary by using false papers to avoid persecution. Plus, he was born in 1930, so was only 13 at the time the Nazis invaded.
His father also utilised his connections to keep Soros safe and paid a Christian government minister to pose as the then-teenager's godfather.
Barr really had no choice but to admit her mistake, then, and tweeted yesterday: "I apologize sincerely to @georgesoros. His family was persecuted by The Nazis & survived The Holocaust only because of the strength & resourcefulness of his father."
She also shared a link to Soros’ grantmaking network, the Open Society Foundation.
This seemed rather more genuine than the previous apologies she had issued over the Valerie Jarrett comments - during which she attempted several times to shift the blame away from herself, and also claimed that what she'd said was not "racist", but merely "disrespectful".
She (now infamously) wrote:
"Guys I did something unforgivable so do not defend me. It was 2 in the morning and I was ambien tweeting-it was memorial day too-i went 2 far & do not want it defended-it was egregious Indefensible. I made a mistake I wish I hadn’t but…don’t defend it please. ty".
Later reports revealed that Barr had begged for ABC to reconsider their decision, but - by that point - the damage was done. Not only did the network want nothing to do with her, but neither did many of her fans and co-workers.
With any luck, though, this will be the last Twitter storm we see from her.
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