Roseanne Barr feels singled out even after her “cancellation” of the show for five years. and she’s not really happy about it.
“I’ve made it through. Finally, I’ve emerged on the other side of it. But as she told The Los Angeles Times, it was a witch-burning. And that was quite scary. Indeed, it was.
The comedian was at the top of the world in 2018 when ABC’s “Roseanne” remake was experiencing incredible success. Then Roseanne wrote the tweet that would cause long-lasting effects in the middle of the night. She likened White House advisor Valerie Jarrett to the “Planet of the Apes” films in the tweet. Roseanne said, in the face of harsh criticism, that she was using Ambien at the time and wasn’t paying attention since she didn’t know Valerie was Black.
ABC immediately fired her, killed off her character, and changed the name of “Roseanne” to “The Conners,” which is still broadcast today.
“Oh my God, I was so hated by them.” She remarked of ABC, “I had no idea that they despised me so much. They despise me because I’m talented and have opinions. They would prefer not to have a number one show, even though “Roseanne” became it.
She claims she was not given the opportunity to apologize by the network.
“I am the only one who has lost everything and whose entire life’s work has been taken from me by individuals I believed to be my lovers. And silence fell,” she said to the Times. “Mo’nique, a courageous, good friend, was the only person in Hollywood who publicly defended me.”
Roseanne said that Louis C.K. and Dave Chappelle, two other comedians, weren’t treated as harshly as she was.
“While they routinely include Dave Chappelle and Louis C.K., they didn’t do it to anyone else in Hollywood. Indeed, she argued, Louis C.K. did lose everything, but he really did commit a crime.
Louis acknowledged engaging in sexual activity in front of female coworkers in 2017. After making transphobic jokes in a Netflix special, Dave faced criticism. Since their occurrences, both guys have received Grammy awards.
Amid the fallout of her ousting, Roseanne has lost contact with many of her former sitcom costars.
“I can’t know what they think or feel. I don’t know why they did what they did. I’m not like them. I realized that. I can’t believe what they did, with all the pain that I went through to bring the show back. And it didn’t faze them to murder my character, either,” she shared.
Although the comedy legend sounds bitter, she says she’s not.
“I forgive everybody,” she says. “I started thinking that God took me out of there to save me. And once I started thinking that way, I was, like, a lot better off.”
On Feb. 13, Rosanne will return to TV with a new comedy special for Fox Nation. In a preview of the special, she asks the crowd, “Has anyone else here been fired recently?”
