Roseanne Barr Breaks Silence on Sitcom Cancelation, Tweets Up a Storm Once Again

Less than 24 hours after claiming she was leaving Twitter, Roseanne Barr has returned to Twitter.

This time, however, the controversial comedian has fewer racist “jokes” to make at the expense of African-Americans.

On Tuesday morning, Roseanne wrote that former Barack Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett was what would happen if the “Muslim brotherhood [and] planet of the apes had a baby.”

The actress eventually deleted this horrible insult, but not before it spread around the Internet and ABC reacted by canceling her sitcom.

In a statement, ABC Presidence Channing Dungey said that the huge ratings for Season 10 of the rebooted series no longer warranted a Season 11, not when the show’s star had expressed such inappropriate views.

“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show,” said Dungey.

This network decision has been applauded all non-racists around the globe.

Roseanne, meanwhile, issued an apology shortly after garnering an extreme amount of backlash online, Tweeting:

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 as in bad taste.

Few folks are forgiving Barr, however, considering her history of being an awful person.

Now, in the wake of this controversy, Roseanne has walked back her claim that she was leaving social media and commented at length on her show’s cancelation.

“Don’t feel sorry for me, guys!!-I just want to apologize to the hundreds of people,and wonderful writers (all liberal) and talented actors who lost their jobs on my show due to my stupid tweet,” Barr wrote, adding:

“I will be on Joe Rogan’s podcast friday.”

She was far from done, however.

“I did something unforgiveable so do not defend me,” she added, prior to making an excuse for her racism:

“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 [sic].

“I made a mistake I wish I hadn’t but…don’t defend it please.”

Aside from the lame ambien defense, this may sound all well and good to some.

Roseanne is clearly sorry, right?

Except she has since re-Tweeted a large number of Conversative voices who have, indeed, defended her position and her opinions and think this is yet another Liberal conspiracy.

To wit:

In a now-deleted tweet, Barr also wrote an apology to Jarrett once again, addressing President Obama’s close friend as follows:

“@ValerieJarrett I want to apologize to you. I am very sorry to have hurt you. I hope you can accept this sincere apology!”

Jarrett, meanwhile, has mostly taken the high road in response to her name randomly and terribly being bantered about in this fashion.

“I think we have to turn it into a teaching moment,” she said yesterday in response, adding that Roseanne’s remarks reflect a greater issue in society than her hurt feeling:

“I’m fine. I’m worried about all the people out there who don’t have a circle of friends and followers who come right to their defense.

“The person who is walking down the street minding their own business and they see somebody cling to their purse, or run across the street, or every black parent I know who has a boy who has to sit down and have a conversation — the talk — as we call it.

“As you say, those ordinary examples of racism that happen every single day.”

But back to Barr:

In a series of other Tweets she has since erased, Barr repeats the stance of one follower who thinks ABC is acting in a hypocritical manner.

“I’m calling on @ABCNetwork @Disney to uphold their “standards” by firing @JoyVBehar for calling Christians mentally ill,” this person (and Roseanne) wrote.

“You can’t treat @therealroseanne one way because she supports @realDonaldTrump & allow Joy Behar to remain employed. #BoycottABC #StandWithRoseanne #Roseanne.”

But then after this, Roseanne said:

Please don’t start all of that boycott abc stuff-I’m not a censor and they have the right to do what they wish. It’ all ok. thanks tho guys.

Roseanne was the number-one scripted series of last season with a 6.4 rating among 18-49-year olds, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The Wrap reports that Paramount Network, TV Land and CMT have pulled all reruns of the series.

Based on her Twitter spree last night, it’s very possible that Roseanne really was on ambien when she originally Tweeted about Jarrett and was also on ambien in these rambling responses to the scandal.

But plenty of celebrities take sleeping pills and/or other types of medication.

It says something about Roseanne’s personal beliefs that when she does so, this filth comes out of her virtual mouth.

Watch Roseanne Season 10 Episode 9 Online

Watch Roseanne Season 10 Episode 8 Online

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Roseanne Gets All Racist on Twitter, Prompts Sitcom Cancelation

Roseanne Barr is at it again.

Although the comedian/actress claims she’ll never be at it ever again after this.

Allow us to explain…

The controversial star, whose rebooted sitcom dominated the ratings this fall and which has already been renewed for Season 11, caused quite an uproar on Twitter today after responding to a comment about Valerie Jarrett.

Jarrett is a close friend of former President Barack Obama and worked as a top-level White House advisor to the ex-Commander-in-Chief.

Using Jarrett’s initials in a message to her followers, Roseanne wrote early on Tuesday that Jarrett is the result of what would happen is the “Muslim brotherhood [and] planet of the apes had a baby.”

We should note here that Jarrett is African-America.

Shortly after spewing this racist nonsense to the world, Roseanne claimed she is quitting social media and offered an apology that reads as follows:

“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 as in bad taste.”

This Mea Culpa has largely fell on deaf ears, however.

Ever since returning to the public eye with her popular sitcom, Roseanne has been saying cruel things, spreading Conservative conspiracy theories and generally acting like… Roseanne.

She once said Hillary Clinton should commit suicide and that Democrats were involved in a child sex-trafficking ring based out of a New York City pizzeria.

A movement to boycott her show cropped up in March as a result of Barr’s past Nazi remarks.

Roseanne has also feuded with adult film star Stormy Daniels over the topic of anal sex.

We really wish we were making that up, trust us.

In the wake of Roseanne’s latest racist insult, veteran comedian Wanda Sykes resigned as a writer on the sitcom.

Many other celebrities have also had their voices heard on the topic.

There was this from Don Cheadle:

you can take @RoseanneOnABC out of racism but you can’t take the racism out of @therealroseanne …

And this from Roseanne actress Sara Gilbert:

Roseanne’s recent comments about Valerie Jarrett, and so much more, are abhorrent and do not reflect the beliefs of our cast and crew or anyone associated with our show.

I am disappointed in her actions to say the least.

UPDATE: Wow, ABC has just announced that Season 11 of Roseanne has actually been scrapped.

In a statement, Channing Dungey, president of ABC statement said the following:

“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show.”

Doesn’t get much more straightforward than that.

Expect television viewers, along with folks from both sides of the political aisle, to have a lot to say over this decision.

Where do YOU stand on it?

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Marc Summers Says TV Sitcom Revivals Helped Bring Back "Double Dare"

Fans of “Double Dare” have TV shows like “Roseanne” and “Will & Grace” to thank for its comeback … according to former host Marc Summers. The “Double Dare” reboot returns this June with Marc as an executive producer. When we got him…

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Anna Duggar Appeared in WHAT "90s Sitcom?!

Some of our younger viewers may not remember a time when Fox was home to content deemed too edgy for the more mainstream networks.

Of course, our definition of “edgy” has changed dramatically in the past couple decades, and Cops and early seasons of The Simpsons seem pretty tame by today’s standards.

One show that routinely pushed the envelope in Fox’s undergorund days was the Ed O’Neil, Christina Applegate sitcom Married With Children.

And now it appears that one of TV’s trashiest families may have ties to the medium’s most wholesome clans.

There are few things that Duggar fans love more than exposing the family’s moral imperfections.

(To be fair, the family invites this on themselves with their more sanctimonious and hypocrtical tendencies.)

And the amateur sleuths who keep the closest watch on the Duggars believe they have unearthed a minor scandal involving Josh Duggar’s long-suffering wife, Anna.

It’s hard to believe, but Duggar obsessives say they have evidence that Anna Duggar appeared in an episode of Married With Children way back in 1992.

Before she married into the Duggar clan, Anna’s last name was Keller, and the credits confirm that an actress by that name did in fast appear in the episode.

The most obvious explanation is that the show featured an actress who happened to have the same name.

But that doesn’t explain why Anna’s official IMDB page features her sole acting credit.

Anna would’ve been just 4 years old at the time, and many fans have cited her age as evidence that it’s impossible for Anna to have appeared on Married.

But as several others have pointed out in a Reddit discussion forum on the subject (yes, fans are taking this very seriously), Anna’s role was not a speaking part, and she may have appeared in a group shot with other children.

Anna, of course, stayed with Josh Duggar after it was revealed that he molested five young girls, four of whom were his sisters.

And she stayed with him when it was revealed that he’d used an Ashley Madison account to try and hit on her.

Needless to say, the Bundy-gate is hardly the biggest scandal that Anna’s been involved with.

But it would be amusing to find out with certainty that she starred in a show about a miserable marriage decades before she crossed paths with Josh.

Watch Counting On online to be reminded of the extent of Anna’s self-sacrifice.

View Slideshow: Josh and Anna Duggar Photos: Through the Years

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John Mahoney Dies; Beloved Sitcom Star Was 77

John Mahoney, a veteran actor likely best remembered by most television viewers for his long-time role on the sitcom Frasier, died Sunday in Chicago.

He was 77 years old.

According to Mahoney’s publicist, the star had been under hospice care at the time of his passing, although his exact cause of death is unknown at this time.

It appears as if he had been suffering from a serious illness and those close to Mahoney knew the end was near.

A native of Blackpool, England, Mahoney broke through in the United States via his role of Martin Crane on the aforementioned series.

He portrayed the father of Frasier and Niles Crane from 1994 through 2004, starring from the premiere up through the finale as a gruff, yet lovable former police officer.

It was Martin’s injury and his need for full-time care on the program that prompted Frasier to move back to Seattle, where he lived with his cantankerous (and hilarious) parent.

Mahoney studied at Quincy University in Illinois and then spent three years in the United States Army, receiving his citizenship in 1959 after moving to America at the age of 19.

After Frasier ended, Mahoney showed up in a variety of shows and films, most notably as Walter Barnett on Season 2 of In Treatment and, more recently, as Rusty Banks on Hot in Cleveland.

He appeared on this latter sitcom for a total of six episodes of three years.

Mahoney was nominated for two Golden Globes and two Emmy Awards over the course of his impressive career.

In 1986, Mahoney won Broadway’s Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in John Guare’s The House of Blue Leaves.

“The theater is my brothers, my sisters, my father, my mother, my wife,” he explained back in the 1980s. “It is everything to me.”

Mahoney also enjoyed a strong career as a voice actor, featuring in numerous animated movies including Antz, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and The Iron Giant.

Throughout his life, People Magazine writes, Mahoney traveled to and from Los Angles and New York for various work projects, yet remained loyal to his home in Oak Park, Illinois.

It’s a cliche, but he was as down to Earth as they come.

“It is quiet here,” he once said of Illinois, adding:

“I get bored out of my mind in L.A. It’s such an industry town. Here I have old friends who aren’t in the business. 

“I can walk to all sorts of good places where the waiters and waitresses don’t want me to read their screenplays.”

The veteran actor never got married and did not have any children.

He left an indelible impression on the theater world and TV world, however.

View Slideshow: Celebrities Who Died in 2018: In Memoriam

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Jim Nabors Dies; Former Sitcom Star Was 87

Jim Nabors, best known for having starred as Gomer Pyle on The Andy Griffith Show and then on his own spinoff, died at his home in Hawaii on Thursday morning.

He was 87 years old.

Hawaii News Now has confirmed this sad piece of news.

Nabors was born in Alabama and actually recorded over two dozen albums, having established a loyal music following as a result of his deep, operative voice.

It often took people by surprise, considering the Southern accent he used on television, along with what became his quasi catchphrase of Gawwwleee.

For a number of years, Nabors also sang “Back Home Again in Indiana” for the opening ceremonies for the Indianapolis 500.

In the early 1960s, the artist was a regular performer at The Horn – a cabaret theater on Wilshire Boulevard – when he was spotted by Andy Griffith.

The actor believed Nabors would be ideal to portray a new character on his CBS sitcom; a dim-witted mechanic named Gomer Pyle.

Gomer worked at Wally’s filling station in Mayberry and was a cousin of George Lindsey’s Goober.

Nabors was signed for just one Season 3 episode, which aired in December of 1962.

But the character and the actor proved to be so popular that Nabors ended up appearing in a total of 23 installments.

His aforementioned signature saying sprang from a discussion in which Gomer extolled the sophistication of Don Knotts’ Barney Fife:

“Gawwwleee! He’s even been out with some nurses,” he said.

On the Season 4 finale, the character enlisted in the Marines, paving the way for Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., which premiere in September of 1964 and ran for a total of five seasons before concluding in 1969.

The actor would end up reprising the role nearly 20 years later, in the 1986 TV-movie Return to Mayberry.

Nabors retired from acting near the peak of his popularity.

“It got down to what you think you want to be: an actor or an entertainer. I want to entertain,” Nabors said in 1969, when he decided to hang up Pyle’s fatigues and host a variety show.

He added:

“I don’t think I’m much of an actor. The only part I ever played was Gomer. I’m the most surprised person around that I’m successful anyway.”

Nabors last sang at the Indy500 in 2015.

May he rest in peace.

View Slideshow: Celebrities Who Died in 2017: In Memoriam

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Kevin James Talks Sitcom Shocker: We HAD to Kill My Wife!

Over the summer, fans of the CBS sitcom Kevin Can Wait (such a breed exists, apparently) were stunned by the news that Erinn Hayes–who played the role of Kevin James’ wife, Donna Gable–was being replaced by Leah Remini, who had previously played James’ wife on King of Queens.

The move was shocking, not only because producers keep expecting us to believe that multiple attractive, intelligent women could fall for the various uber-schlubby iterations of James, but also for the way in which the switcheroo was executed (pun intended):

Basically, the writers killed off Hayes’s character and proceeded to treat her death like an afterthought–priority number three, right behind introducing Remini’s character and delivering the yuk-yuks about James being overweight.

Now, fan outrage over the death of Donna Gable (surprisingly not the title of a straight-to-VOD low budget horror flick) has resulted in the fall TV season’s most unexpected controversy.

As of late, Hayes has been favoriting tweets from viewers urging a boycott of Kevin Can Wait.

Meanwhile, Remini went off on former fans of the show, essentially telling them to get a life and stop worrying so much about the fates of their favorite characters.

(Odd argument for an actress to make, but we digress.)

Basically, everyone has spoken out about the Kevin controversy except for Kevin himself–until now.

Yes, you probably never thought Kevin James would say or do anything worthy of the celebrity gossip equivalent of a prolonged drum roll, but that moment has arrived.

And amazingly, it’s not tied to the release of Paul Blart: Mall Cop 3D, which sadly exists only in our dreams.

Instead, James gave an interview to the New York Daily News in which he talked about his show’s plot problems.

His words are mostly meaningless, but it’s fun to hear James talk about the complex Rubik’s Cube of emotion and plot momentum that is Kevin Can Wait, as though the writers were having a hard time figuring out ways for Kev to keep his meth empire hidden from his increasingly suspicious wife:

“The plot of the show didn’t have enough drive,” James said.

“If we got through a second season, I wouldn’t see us getting through a third one. We were literally just running out of ideas.”

Yes, apparently “fat guy breaks chair/splits pants/loves doughnuts” gags aren’t as easy to write as we thought.

Hilariously, James presses on with this explanation, never addressing the far more obvious explanation that fans recognize Remini from his old show, and network sitcoms are products that thrive on consumer habit (see: the reboots of every single sitcom from the ’90s for further evidence).

“I get that people are like ‘Whoa, why would you do this?’ But it really felt like a thing like this was needed for this show to drive forward,” James said.

“Now, I have to deal with my daughter in a different way, and she’s gonna go to college, or one’s getting married, or the holidays. And it deals with things in a different, weightier way.”

That’s how we imagine discussions in the Game of Thrones writers room played out:

“So, how about one of the dragons goes to college and then … um, the holidays.”

Weighty stuff.

It’s never an easy decision to make, but it’s a hard fact of the craft that any creative writing teacher worth his salt should impart to his students on day one:

Sometimes, you have to kill off a character so everyone else can have Christmas.

Kevin James just took us to school, y’all.

View Slideshow: 24 Shocking TV Deaths

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Kevin James Sitcom Randomly Kills Off Wife, Pisses Off Fans

There are things you expect from a sitcom starring Kevin James – a shlubby dude with an out-of-his-league wife, a laugh track punctuating some pretty cringey one-liners, etc.

And then there are things you don’t expect, like, say, swift and brutal deaths being laughed off with a callous brutality more common to Game of Thrones than CBS sitcoms.

Yes, if you watched last night’s episode of Kevin Can Wait, you may have been among the many viewers who were stunned by the fashion in which the show killed off the main character’s wife, Donna, played by Erinn Hayes, in order to replace her with Leah Remini.

The swapping of actresses was not unexpected.

Remini co-starred in James’ first sitcom, King of Queens, and her cameo on the first season of KCW was so well-received that producers quickly made the decision to replace Hayes with Remini.

When Hayes announced back in June that she would not be returning to the show, it was clear the deal was done.

The only question was: how would the show’s writers pull off the switcheroo?

Would they just drop Remini into the middle of the show and hope that no one noticed, a la Sarah Chalke on Roseanne?

Not really an option, as Remini had already appeared on the series and been established as a character separate from James’ wife.

Would they go the dramatic route with a Very Special Episode exploring James’ efforts to cope with his wife’s untimely passing?

Well, only if your idea of drama involves jokes about free kung-fu lessons.

Yes, news of Donna’s death was conveyed to the audience with a bizarre scene in which James’ character receives a flyer mail from her gym.

His daughter remarks that they should stop sending him mail, as Donna “died over a year ago.”

James encourages her not to toss the flyer because it has “a coupon for a free kung-fu lesson” at the bottom.

Cue laugh track. 

Maybe the show will go into greater detail at some point, but for now, that’s all the information fans are getting.

Needless to say, many viewers were upset to see Donna disappeared like a suppressive person.

(Hey, we know Leah Remini can appreciate a good Scientology joke!)

On Twitter, the show was slammed as “savage” and “disrespectful” for offing a beloved character in such a dismissive fashion.

But maybe fans should be a bit more understanding.

After all, do you really want a scene in which Paul Blart, Mall Cop attempts to muster the acting chops to grieve the death of his TV wife?

Actually, come to think of it, we totally want that.

Make it happen, Kevin Can Wait!

View Slideshow: 24 Shocking TV Deaths

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Jay Thomas Dies; Veteran Sitcom Star Was 69

Jay Thomas, a long-time actor best known for roles in such timeless sitcoms as Cheers and Murphy Brown, died this week after a battle with cancer.

He was 69 years old.

The winner of two Primetime Emmy Awards, Thomas also starred on Ray Donovan for three years and most recently appeared on an episode of Bones in 2015.

His agent and friend, Don Buchwald, confirmed Thomas’ passing via a statement on Thursday to The New York Daily News.

“Jay was one of a kind, never at a loss for words and filled with so much fun and wonderfully whacky thoughts and behavior,” wrote Buchwald, who represented Thomas for 35 years.

Thomas’ wife, Sally, and his sons Sam, Max and J.T. were by the actor’s side when he passed away.

Thomas portrayed Jerry Gold on Murphy Brown from 1989-1998 and also took on the character of Rhea Perlman’s TV husband Eddie LeBec on Cheers” from 1987-1989.

Thomas went on to anchor the series Love & War from 1992-1995.

The star was also a regular on The Late Show with David Letterman, becoming a frequent guest over the years around the holidays.

Back in the day, he and the host would attempt to knock a meatball off the top of a Christmas tree by throwing footballs at it.

“It’s been fun. I’ve always wanted to be one of those guys on late-night talk shows who everybody wants to see,” he said in 2014 of these appearances, adding at the time:

“Like on Carson, when Rickles would come out. I became that guy. And I love football, so my two big dreams were totally realized.”

Thomas also hosted a popular radio show on SiriusXM.

On the big screen, the actor’s feature film appearances included roles in Mr. Holland’s Opus, Dragonfly, The Santa Clause 2 and The Santa Clause 3.

A native of Kermit, Texas, Thomas was raised in New Orleans and rose to prominence as a deejay on radio stations in New York and Los Angeles. 

He got his start on TV in 1979 by playing Remo DaVinci, the co-owner of a New York deli, on Mork & Mindy.

He is survived by his aforementioned wife and two kids.

May Jay Thomas rest in peace.

View Slideshow: Celebrities Who Died in 2017: In Memoriam

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