We have seen a lot of resurgences as of recent. We saw an X Files, Will and Grace, Dynasty, and MacGyver reboot just to name a few. Seems like people were longing for the nostalgia of the shows that they grew up watching. Then Roseanne was greenlighted for a reboot. The Conner family of Lanford, IL was coming back to the silver screen and many were excited. Roseanne in its original run always focused on real issues that affect real people, so it was only natural that the reboot would follow the same formula. Roseanne premiered with a bang with over 18 million viewers tuning in to see what the Conners had been doing since the show ended over 20 years ago. Since Roseanne Barr was the creator of her show, her personal beliefs were written into the show. Roseanne Conner as well as Barr, both are Trump supporters. That was the focus of the premiere episode as she and her sister Jackie were no longer speaking after the election. This was all too real for some people as the relationship between friends and family may be strained due to which political candidate they voted for. There were also topics of interracial relationships, gender fluidity, and surrogacy to name a few. The show had real promise and potential as it was greenlighted for a second season. People were captured by the writing and thought that the show really was a snapshot into people’s lives today. Then Roseanne couldn’t stay off Twitter.
Roseanne Barr has always had an abrasive say what I want to personality. She spoke her mind and was unapologetic about it. If your feelings were hurt oh well, thicken up that skin. She has constantly showed her support for Trump and his policies, which she does have a right to do. She’s also tweeted bizarre conspiracy theories. Where the shit hit the fan was what she tweeted and then later deleted about Barack Obama’s former advisor Valerie Jarrett. The tweet stated Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj. Now people may ask what’s so wrong with that, it’s just a joke, she’s a comedian lighten up, let me break it down to you. Valerie Jarrett is a black woman so referring to any black person as any type of primate is extremely racially insensitive. It’s a very long and ugly history of black people being referred to and treated as animals. It wasn’t that long ago when Civil Rights were implemented across the board. Hell school integration didn’t happen until the 1950s. My mom remembers all of this so I’m only one generation removed from this. So let’s stop saying it was a long time ago. After she received a little backlash, she then said it was a joke. Not cool or funny. Then once real push back came, she gave a half assed apology and stated she was quitting twitter only to be back on the very next day. Then she dropped the bomb. Roseanne has been canceled by ABC.
When she tweeted about the cancellation, many people already had started posting about it because ABC had already released their statement I believe. There were understandably mixed reviews. Some people had the don’t let the doorknob hit you where the good lord split you mentality. And then the other people were big mad about it. Oh they were pissed. They started pulling out all the stops about how they should ban to boycott ABC (good luck) and how it’s unfair that the president is a constant object of ridicule yet the people who do it are still employed. They came after SNL, Bill Maher, and the View. These are all shows that I only watch clips of online, so I’m not sure to what capacity they go into when they speak of Trump. From what I have seen especially on SNL, this is stuff that he has actually said, but they just take it and add satire to it. Once the convincing others that they were being hypocritical for laughing at one and not the other didn’t work, then her supporters went for the she apologized get over it. This opened a whole new dialogue for the non-supporters who stated that when the NFL players kneel and have said numerous times, this is not about the flag, disrespecting the military, or the national anthem time and time again, that it is totally dismissed. How come one concept is so hard to understand but the other one isn’t? Then came the blame game.
As tough as nails as Roseanne is, she started to change her tune once she got canned. Its so ironic that a lot of the hardcore supporters of the president will regurgitate his words and end up hearing his catchphrase: you’re fired. The first people she went after were her castmates. Sara Gilbert and Michael Fishman called her out immediately on her tweet. In short, both her tv daughter and son said that ain’t cool. She responded by saying thanks for throwing me under the bus. In a bizarre twist, she then blamed Ambien for the tweet. I guess Ambien forgot to list tweeting racist shit as a possible side effect. Ambien didn’t take this lightly and basically said keep our name out your mouth. She then tweeted (I thought she quit twitter though) to her fans that Wanda Sykes tweet that was sent out before ABC canceled her was the influence. Wanda Sykes who was a producer on Roseanne announced that she would not be returning for season 2. Roseanne felt that this may have skewed ABC’s decision. After this final failed attempt, she then said I’m not racist just an idiot. No my dear, you’re both.
The lesson that should be learned from this whole situation is that freedom of speech does not protect you from consequences. People seem to only think about freedom of speech when it is in their favor, but the second it goes against what they believe, all hell breaks loose. The funny thing about this is when it is called out, people just completely dismiss it. They don’t even attempt to address it, or they deflect. The cycle that is all to common when someone in entertainment posts something that is controversial is:
- Get defensive and say yeah, I meant every word.
- It’s a joke, where is your sense of humor.
- I didn’t mean to offend anyone.
- If I offended you, I’m sorry.
- Offer an excuse of what made them do it.
Bonus: If all else fails, claim your account got hacked.
Point is now, we are living in a very pc world now and certain stuff just ain’t gonna fly. You can’t make certain statements about certain people, especially if the people have been hurt or killed for who they are. The bottom line is that racism is very much still alive in 2018. We can pretend that giving blacks civil rights, integrating schools, approving interracial marriage, affirmative action, and electing a black president has taken care of the race thing, but it hasn’t. The only way to fully get rid of it, is to address the elephant in the room and then maybe a solution to this problem can occur.