Barred From Spinoff: ‘Roseanne’ Will Go On Without Eponymous Actress
Image by Getty Images, Wikimedia Commons
(JTA) – ABC rehired most of the cast of the hit series “Roseanne,” but not its star, Roseanne Barr, which prompted the network to cancel the show by posting racist comments on social media.
The rehires will play in a spin-off series that may be called “The Conners,” the Hollywood Reporter reported Thursday.
“Roseanne” was a remake of a 1980s iconic series about a working-class family.
“We all came back last season because we wanted to tell stories about the challenges facing a working-class family today. We are so happy to have the opportunity to return with the cast and crew to continue to share those stories through love and laughter,” stars John Goodman (Dan), Laurie Metcalf (Jackie), Sara Gilbert (Darlene), Lecy Goranson (Becky) and Michael Fishman (D.J.) said in a joint statement.
The network announced the cancellation of Roseanne last month after Barr, who is Jewish, drew wide criticism for a tweet in which she mocked Valerie Jarrett, a former adviser to President Barack Obama.
“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show,” Channing Dungey, ABC’s entertainment president, said in a statement.
Barr’s tweet mocked Jarrett, who is African-American, saying that “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.”
The actress later deleted the tweet and issued an apology, saying she had made “a bad joke about her politics and her looks.”
Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at fisher@forward.com
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