Disney CEO: Canceling ‘Roseanne’ was the only option

Walt Disney Company CEO Robert Iger said on Tuesday that canceling ABC’s hit sitcom “Roseanne” was not only the right thing to do – it was the only option. 

“There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing,” Iger tweeted. The Walt Disney Company owns ABC.

From Channing Dungey, President of ABC Entertainment: “Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show.”
There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing.

— Robert Iger (@RobertIger) May 29, 2018

Iger’s tweet came less than an hour after ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey announced in a statement that the network would cancel the reboot of the hit ’90s sitcom after its star, Roseanne Barr, posted a racist tweet about former Obama White House adviser Valerie Jarrett. 

In the tweet, Barr, 65, compared Jarrett to a child of the Islamist group the Muslim Brotherhood and the film “Planet of the Apes.”

Barr deleted that tweet after it sparked outrage on social media, and issued an apology, saying that she would be “leaving Twitter.”

Hours later, Dungey issued a statement announcing that ABC had decided to cancel the “Roseanne” reboot, calling Barr’s comments “abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values.”

The latest iteration of “Roseanne” debuted earlier this year to high ratings and criticism. The show portrays Barr as a supporter of President Trump and saw some of its highest ratings in the U.S. heartland.

Barr, a Trump supporter in real life, has come under fire in the past for inflammatory posts on social media, and has repeatedly faced accusations of racist behavior.