Some conservatives are crying foul over the hit comedy Roseanne was abruptly canceled on Tuesday, a consequence of star Roseanne Barr's racist tweet against a former aide to President Barack Obama.
"Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj," Barr tweeted about Valerie Jarrett Tuesday morning. Shortly after intense Twitter backlash, Barr issued an apology to Jarrett, saying her "joke was in bad taste."
Roseanne Barr apologizes to Valerie Jarrett after a bizarre rant Tuesday morning, and then announces she's "now lea… https://t.co/tD4ikrmhA0— CNN (@CNN) 1527608023.0
Later in the day, ABC canceled her show, citing Barr's "abhorrent" and "repugnant" tweet. "Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show," ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey said in a statement.
ABC Entertainment cancels Roseanne Barr's show, calling her comment on Twitter "abhorrent, repugnant and inconsiste… https://t.co/bEfeLKvKxu— ABC News (@ABC News) 1527616997.0
Social media erupted on Tuesday in response to Barr's comments and the subsequent cancellation of her show, which was only a few months away from airing its second season. Amidst overwhelmingly positive responses to ABC's decision, however, some conservatives on Twitter bemoaned what they perceive as a double-standard.
Conservative political comedian Tim Young cited ESPN's Keith Olbermann, who often posts tweets that are brutally critical of President Donald Trump, as an example. "The last thing ABC stands for is supporting someone who tweets awful things," Young said, insinuating that cursing about Trump is equivalent to comparing a black woman, in this case Jarrett, to an ape, as Barr did in her tweet.
Former baseball pitcher Curt Schilling also invoked Olbermann, whom he referred to as "scum," and said that black Disney executives were "race-baiting frauds."
The irony of Disney canning Roseanne while continuing to employ some of the industries biggest racist and race bait… https://t.co/KoEblj2mvu— Curt Schilling (@Curt Schilling) 1527633227.0
Conservative commentator Eric Erickson also compared Barr to Olbermann, however, he noted that her "batcrap crazy" statements should have always been seen as "troubling."
Like Alec Baldwin, Keith Olbermann, and others, Roseanne Barr has a history of offensive, outrageous, batcrap crazy… https://t.co/U5OpQ0AbFW— Erick Erickson (@Erick Erickson) 1527626351.0
Right-wingers also targeted MSNBC host Joy Reid, who recently came under fire for homophobic remarks that appeared in her blog roughly a decade ago.
Joy Reid gets a pass Joy Behar gets a pass Jimmy Kimmel gets a pass Stephen Colbert gets a pass George Soros gets a… https://t.co/QZv4x73P7P— Jack Posobiec🇺🇸 (@Jack Posobiec🇺🇸) 1527621839.0
What do you have to do to get fired from a weekend show on @MSNBC? @JoyAnnReid is the perfect person to ask that qu… https://t.co/4KUn9fyHVt— Derek Hunter (@Derek Hunter) 1527615978.0
Joy Ann Reid repeatedly and intentionally published bigoted ideas over long periods of time, lies about it, gets he… https://t.co/MZO6EXEUmH— Charlie Kirk (@Charlie Kirk) 1527616305.0
Joy Reid is still on television. That's pretty much all you need to know about the Roseanne cancellation.— Michael Knowles (@Michael Knowles) 1527627986.0
Others expressed general support for Barr.
I’m a black man and I stand with @therealroseanne! Yes, she made a horrible joke and she apologized. I see comedi… https://t.co/9NdbaaxcUZ— Oliver McGee PhD MBA (@Oliver McGee PhD MBA) 1527621536.0
REMINDER: Liberals will come for your career for wrong-think. People on the Right have had about enough of it and w… https://t.co/2tHBm7Fl0f— Jesse Kelly® (@Jesse Kelly®) 1527615338.0
But there were dissenting voices as well. Bill O'Reilly called Barr's tweet a "vicious personal attack," and that letting Roseanne stay on there air would have been "insulting to millions of Americans."
Roseanne Barr’s vicious personal attack on former Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett came out of nowhere and cost… https://t.co/Hspp9FPSmx— Bill O'Reilly (@Bill O'Reilly) 1527620040.0
"It is an outrageous comment," conservative personality Sean Hannity said on his radio show. "She was right to apologize."