Despite crude racist comments, Roseanne Barr earns spot on the Emmy ballot
You would think a crude racist insult and the cancellation of her sitcom would be enough to keep ‘Roseanne’ star Roseanne Barr off the Emmy ballot, but apparently that is not the case.
Gold Derby reported that Roseanne and several other members of the show’s cast are in fact on the ballot.
Only two months ago, Roseanne was given a second chance at stardom when ABC announced the return of her 1988 sitcom. The show was welcomed with great excitement; it even brought in significant amounts in ad revenue. However, Roseanne’s time in the positive limelight was short lived. Her actions off-screen were enough to bring down the curtains on her ABC sitcom.
Referring to former president Barack Obama’s senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, who happened to be an African-American woman, Roseanne tweeted, “Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.”
This distasteful remark led to the immediate cancellation of the show by ABC. ABC’s entertainment president, Channing Dungey, said in a statement that “Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values."
Disney’s Chairman and CEO Bob Iger quoted Channing in his tweet and said, “There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing,” referring to ABC’s decision to cancel the show. Other members of the cast and crew like Sara Gilbert, who plays Barr’s daughter, were also not afraid to vocalize their disapproval of Roseanne’s remarks via social media.
Despite this, she has still managed to secure a spot on the Emmy ballot. The question is whether voters will decide to give her the nomination for Best Comedy Actress. The bigger question is, if she is nominated, what message will it send her and the people who are watching?
Of course, after the entire scandal, Roseanne decided to apologize. She tweeted, “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 was in bad taste.”
But she did not stop here.
There are several ways to go when apologizing, Roseanne definitely chose an interesting route. Instead of taking full responsibility, she blamed her actions on a drug called Ambien, which is commonly used to treat insomnia.
The creators of Ambien were quick to respond to this bizarre claim. They said, “Racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication.”
