Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption President Trump once told supporters Roseanne 'was about us'

Roseanne Barr has blamed sleeping pills for her tweet likening an African-American former Obama aide to an ape.

The comedian blamed the offensive post on "ambien tweeting" - although she has since removed the tweet. Ambien is a sedative pill used as a sleeping aid.

ABC cancelled Roseanne's sitcom over the racist tweet. They also apologised to the aide, Valerie Jarrett.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday broke his silence on Barr, who has been one of his most outspoken supporters.

"Bob Iger of ABC called Valerie Jarrett to let her know that 'ABC does not tolerate comments like those' made by Roseanne Barr", Mr Trump tweeted on Wednesday, referring to the former White House senior adviser.

"Gee, he never called President Donald J. Trump to apologize for the HORRIBLE statements made and said about me on ABC.

Barr's tweet described Mrs Jarrett as the child of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group, and the Planet of the Apes film.

The television network said on Tuesday: "Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values and we have decided to cancel her show."

The reboot of her hit sitcom Roseanne had been a ratings winner, and Mr Trump had called to congratulate her personally on its first season back.

Barr deleted Monday night's post and said she was leaving Twitter, but has since posted a flurry of tweets including one claiming other comedians "have said worse".

In another tweet, the TV star tried to explain away the post as having been caused by the effects of Ambien.

A spokeswoman for Sanofi, the pharmaceutical company that makes Ambien, said in response to Barr's tweets about taking the sedative: "While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication."

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Valerie Jarrett, centre, was one of President Barack Obama's longest-serving aides

On Wednesday, Barr also told former fellow cast member Michael Fishman, who played DJ Conner on the show: "You throw me under the bus. nice!"

She hit back at him after he posted a statement branding her original post "reprehensible".

Barr's racist tweet came in response to another Twitter user, who accused Mrs Jarrett of helping to conceal purported spying during the Obama administration.

Mrs Jarrett was a senior adviser to US President Barack Obama, and worked with him during his early days in Chicago politics.

Barr apologised, saying the remark was a "bad joke", but the backlash mushroomed.

Will Trump condemn his favourite TV star?

Anthony Zurcher, BBC News, Washington

On Tuesday White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders deflected questions about the president's views on the Roseanne Barr controversy by saying that he had been "extremely focused" on other things.

That seemed a bit hard to swallow. The president had taken pride in the viewership ratings of the rebooted Roseanne Show, claiming in a March rally that its success "was about us". He even called Barr - an outspoken supporter of the president - to offer his congratulations.

On Wednesday, Mr Trump broke his silence. What he tweeted was that he had been slighted by ABC because he never received an apology for unnamed disparagements. What he didn't express was any sort of condemnation of Barr's racist tweet.

Mr Trump has often been criticised for an apparent unwillingness to address episodes of racial discrimination or hostility. Following violence at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in which one counter-protester was killed, the president assigned blame to both sides. He noted that there were "good people" among those chanting racist and anti-Semitic slogans in a torchlight rally the night before the clashes.

With his tweet, Mr Trump will face renewed pressure to explicitly denounce Barr's comments. After embracing the comedian as a voice for his movement, however, the president may find such a step difficult to manage.

The 65-year-old entertainer wrote on Tuesday she was "leaving Twitter", but returned shortly after with a string of tweets addressing the cancellation of her sitcom.

"I will handle my sadness the way I want to," she said. "I'm tired of being attacked and belittled more than other comedians who have said worse."

Image copyright AFP Image caption The return of Roseanne was as short-lived as it was spectacular

Barr also said that not only had her new series been axed, but also that older reruns of the sitcom had been cancelled by other networks.

A spokesman for Viacom, which owns various networks including Paramount, earlier said it would stop airing old episodes. The streaming service Hulu also said it would be removing the sitcom from its library.

What's the reaction?

Speaking at a prescheduled MSNBC town hall event on racism, Mrs Jarrett said the Roseanne Barr controversy was "a teaching moment".

She added: "I'm fine, I'm worried about all the people out there who don't have a circle of friends and followers coming to their defence."

She said that Robert Iger, chief executive of Disney, ABC's parent company, had called her to apologise and said he had "zero tolerance" for Barr's tweet.

Following ABC's cancellation notice, Barr's talent agency ICM Partners dropped her as a client.

Sara Gilbert, who plays daughter Darlene on the series, posted on Twitter that Barr's comments were "abhorrent".

Emma Kenney, who plays Darlene's daughter Harris, said "the racist and distasteful comments from Roseanne are inexcusable", adding: "Bullies do not win. Ever."

Danny Zuker, a writer for the original 1988 Roseanne show, said it was "nauseating" to see what Barr had become.

Her hit sitcom's premiere in March pulled in more than 25 million people, with delayed viewing counted in.

The comedy series won conservative plaudits because Barr plays a supporter of Mr Trump, a group largely ignored by Hollywood.</s>ABC announced on Tuesday that it would cancel the hit sitcom "Roseanne" following "abhorrent" comments from the show's star, Roseanne Barr, who had compared former Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett to an ape. Just an hour later, Barr's talent agency ICM Partners dropped her as a client, the firm confirmed to CNBC. Read more: Ambien maker trolls Roseanne: 'Racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication' Barr's swift downfall comes after a year of successes, including record ratings for her show's debut and a congratulatory call from the president. Throughout, however, Barr has attracted criticism for her use of social media to provoke, attack, and spread conspiracy theories. "Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show," Channing Dungey, president of ABC Entertainment, said in a statement Tuesday. In a since-deleted tweet, Barr said of Jarrett: "muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj." Critics immediately slammed Barr's remark as racist. Likening black people to apes is an attack commonly used by racists. The Muslim Brotherhood, meanwhile, is an Islamist political group. Barr had apologized for her comments earlier in the day and said she would be refraining from using her Twitter account, which was still live at the time of publication.

The CEO of ABC's parent company, the Walt Disney Co., agreed with the decision to cancel the series. "You can't debate what is morally right," Bob Iger said in an interview with CNBC's David Faber minutes after the announcement. Iger said there was no debate internally about what to do. He discussed the cancellation with Ben Sherwood, president of the Disney-ABC Television Group, and other executives, according to Faber. "There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing," Iger said in a tweet that quoted Dungey's statement. Iger called Jarrett ahead of the announcement to tell her the show would be canceled, according to MSNBC. "This should be a teaching moment," Jarrett said during the taping of "Everyday Racism in America," a special airing at 9 pm ET on the news network. In March, Sherwood told The New York Times that "you can't control Roseanne Barr." "Many who have tried have failed. She's the one and only." Dungey, who announced that the show would be canceled, is the first black head of a major broadcast TV network, the Associated Press reported when she was tapped to lead ABC in 2016. In a statement, ICM Partners said it was "distressed" by Barr's tweet. "What she wrote is antithetical to our core values, both as individuals and as an agency. Consequently, we have notified her that we will not represent her. Effective immediately, Roseanne Barr is no longer a client." Streaming platforms and television networks began pulling "Roseanne" reruns Tuesday, according to reports in multiple entertainment industry publications. Viacom channels Paramount Network, TV Land, and CMT will stop running reruns of the show, the company confirmed to CNBC. Meanwhile, it is no longer possible to stream episodes of the show on the streaming platform Hulu. Hulu CEO Randy Freer told CNBC's Julia Boorstin Wednesday that removing the show from Hulu would not be "consequential" for the Hulu's finances. "It wasn't a huge performer for us recently," he said.

Barr's apology and history of controversial tweets

"I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans," Barr wrote on Twitter. "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." A representative for Jarrett declined to comment on Barr's tweet. The actress had earlier defended the statement against other critics on the social media platform. "Roseanne" returned to television this year after an initial run in the 1980s and '90s. The show was an immediate hit, with more than 18 million viewers watching the premiere. The show was renewed for a second season in March. Barr, whose provocative Twitter presence rankled ABC executives, has been an outspoken proponent of President Donald Trump. In March, Trump called Barr to congratulate her on her ratings success. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to comment on the cancellation to NBC News on Tuesday.</s>ABC announced Tuesday afternoon that it was canceling “Roseanne” amid outrage sparked by its namesake star, Roseanne Barr, who posted racist comments on Twitter mere hours before. The Trump-supporting comedian described Valerie Jarrett, an African American senior adviser to former President Barack Obama, as the spawn of the Muslim Brotherhood and the film “The Planet of the Apes.”

“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel the show,” the network announced in a statement. Barr has yet to respond to the cancellation, but earlier Tuesday, she deleted the tweet and issued an apology, calling the tweet a “joke” made in “bad taste.”

While Barr’s tweet—posted as part of an unrelated thread that cited a false conspiracy theory alleging illegal surveillance by the Obama administration—prompted shock on Tuesday, many were quick to note how well the comedian’s racist comparison fit into her past as a social media troll.

Long before ABC’s decision to green-light a reboot of the hit 1990’s sitcom, Barr spent time fanning the flames of baseless conspiracy theories popularized on right-wing platforms, including Pizzagate and anti-Obama birther theories. Those past tweets didn’t stop with ABC’s revival of “Roseanne”; Barr continued to promote such theories, including one that accused Parkland mass shooting survivor David Hogg of giving a Nazi salute.

ABC faced a fierce backlash. Wanda Sykes, a producer the revival of the sitcom, announced that she was done with “Roseanne.” Sara Gilbert, who plays Barr’s daughter on the show, condemned Barr’s tweet and “so much more”—apparently in reference to Barr’s history of spreading hateful rhetoric online.</s>ABC abruptly canceled "Roseanne" on Tuesday after the show's star, Roseanne Barr, made a controversial tweet about former White House adviser Valerie Jarrett.

"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 Tuesday in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter and other news outlets.

Barr had tweeted that Jarrett was a product of the Muslim Brotherhood and the "Planet of the Apes." The tweet sparked swift and angry reaction on social media.

Wanda Sykes quit as a producer of the show. Barr's co-star, Sara Gilbert, tweeted that Barr's "comments about Valerie Jarrett, and so much more, are abhorrent and do not reflect the beliefs of our cast and crew or anyone associated with our show. I am disappointed in her actions to say the least."

In another tweet Gilbert added: "This is incredibly sad and difficult for all of us, as we’ve created a show that we believe in, are proud of, and that audiences love — one that is separate and apart from the opinions and words of one cast member."

Barr tweeted an apology to Jarrett saying she was sorry "for making a bad joke."

“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,” Barr tweeted, following up with, “I am now leaving Twitter.”

Barr deleted the Jarrett tweet, which read: "muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj."

She also tweeted or retweeted attacks on Michael Moore, Chelsea Clinton and George Soros.

The revival of the sitcom, where Barr played the matriarch of a blue-collar family, was scheduled to have an 11th season this fall, reported Variety. It finished this TV season as the No. 1 scripted primetime TV series among ages 18-49 according to Nielson, Variety reported.</s>ABC announced on Tuesday that it would cancel the sitcom "Roseanne" following "abhorrent" comments from the star, Roseanne Barr, who had compared former Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett to an ape.

"Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show," Channing Dungey, president of ABC Entertainment, said in a statement Tuesday.

"You can't debate what is morally right," Disney CEO Bob Iger said in an interview with CNBC's David Faber minutes after the announcement.

Disney is the parent company of ABC.

"There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing," Iger said in a tweet.

Dungey, who issued the first official statement announcing that the show would be cancelled, is reportedly the first black female head of a major TV network. 



Roseanne had apologized for her comments earlier in the day and said she would be refraining from using her Twitter account.

Barr said of Jarrett in the since-deleted tweet: "muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj."</s>Roseanne Barr says she is leaving Twitter after apologizing for calling Valerie Jarrett, a former adviser to President Barack Obama, an offspring of the “Muslim Brotherhood & Planet of the Apes.”

Barr apologized then vowed to leave Twitter. About five minutes later she expanded on her apology. “I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans,” Barr tweeted. “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.” She has not tweeted anything since.

In her initial tweet, she referred to Jarrett as “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.” It was in response to a tweet referencing a Wikileaks claim that the CIA during Obama’s term in office spied on French presidential candidates. Barr responded to claims that her tweet was racist by replying “Muslims r not a race.” Jarrett, an African American, was born in Iran to American parents. Barr’s tweet has since been deleted. Deadline has reached out to ABC for comment.

Earlier Barr also tweeted about Chelsea Clinton, referring to her as “Chelsea Soros Clinton”, a reference to George Soros, a well-known billionaire supporter of American progressive and liberal political causes. The tweet prompted a swift backlash by Clinton.</s>The 'Roseanne' star says she regrets her tweet more than losing her show.

Roseanne Barr returned to Twitter to apologize to her co-stars and fans hours after her ABC sitcom was canceled, and she has a message to those who plan to boycott the network: Don’t. While Barr retweeted several posts that slam the network for not firing other ABC stars like Jimmy Kimmel and Joy Behar for their past controversial comments, the Roseanne star told fans not to defend her or take their anger out on ABC.

Barr was fired by ABC after she posted a racist tweet about former Obama aide Valerie Jarrett in a social media spree that also included attacks on Chelsea Clinton and George Soros. The 65-year-old comedian issued an apology to Jarrett and later told fans what she did was unforgivable.

“Guys I did something unforgiveable so do not defend me,” Barr posted to Twitter. “I went 2 far & do not want it defended– it was egregious Indefensible. I made a mistake I wish I hadn’t but…don’t defend it please.”

Barr, who also revealed that she had taken the sleeping aid Ambien before posting the tweet about Jarrett, appealed to fans not to boycott her former network. Barr tweeted:

Roseanne Barr also apologized to the hundreds of writers and actors who lost their jobs over her “stupid” tweet, and she asked fans not to defend her anymore. Barr took to Twitter to write: “‘Hey guys, don’t defend me, it’s sweet of you 2 try, but…losing my show is 0 compared 2 being labeled a racist over one tweet- that I regret even more.”

In a short statement announcing the cancelation of the Roseanne reboot, Roseanne Barr’s behavior was described as “abhorrent” by ABC executives. But many Roseanne fans have come to the star’s defense and have petitioned to boycott ABC and its sponsors. You can see some of the angry fan reaction to the cancelation of Roseanne Barr’s show below.

On Tuesday morning, Roseanne Barr’s firing played out swiftly behind the scenes. Hours after the actress posted the tweet about Valerie Jarrett, executives at ABC and its parent company, Disney, pulled the plug on Roseanne.

According to CNN, Roseanne Barr, her publicist, and Roseanne executive producer Tom Werner spoke on a conference call where Barr was described as “contrite” as she was told that cancellation of her sitcom was a possibility. The show’s producers and Roseanne Barr’s castmates found out about the decision to end the show when ABC issued a statement a few hours later. ABC sources told CNN that advertisers were not a factor in the decision to end Roseanne.</s>How does the most popular new TV show in America get canceled in a matter of hours?

On Tuesday we found out. All it takes is a few derogatory tweets by a star, in this case Roseanne Barr, and a few conference calls by network executives.

Executives at ABC and its parent company, Disney, decided early in the day to pull the plug on "Roseanne."

The view inside Disney, according to sources, was that Tuesday was the third or fourth time when Barr's tweets had presented a problem for ABC. This controversy was by far the worst yet.

Tuesday's racist and bizarre tweets were "unsurvivable," one of the sources said. "Enough was enough."

Barr was informed by phone ahead of time that her show was being axed. But other "Roseanne" producers and cast members only found out when ABC issued a terse statement shortly before 11 a.m. Pacific time.

Inside ABC, there's now a sense of pride in how quickly this controversy was contained -- but there are lingering questions about why the network got back in business with Barr to begin with.

Here's a look at what happened, hour by hour:

The ABC bosses woke up to Barr's overnight posts attacking Valerie Jarrett, Chelsea Clinton and George Soros.

Clinton, on the East Coast, responded to Barr bright and early, at 7 a.m. Eastern time. She refuted Barr's conspiratorial claim that she is related to Soros.

At the same time, one of Barr's other tweets -- the racist one equating Jarrett to an ape -- was catching fire from outraged Twitter users.

Barr lives in Hawaii, but it's unknown if that is where she was tweeting from. By 9:30 a.m. Eastern, 3:30 a.m. in Hawaii, she was tweeting again, retweeting various conspiracies and responding to Clinton's comment. In her response, she advanced an anti-semitic and debunked idea about Soros.

ABC is headquartered in Burbank, California. By 10 a.m. Eastern, 7 a.m. Pacific, ABC executives were talking by email and phone.

Key executives included ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey; her boss Ben Sherwood, the president of the Disney/ABC Television Group; and his boss Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney.

Related: The ABC executive who fired Roseanne hired her last year

Around 10:30 a.m. Eastern, 7:30 a.m. Pacific, Barr tweeted out an apology to Jarrett. She said she was "leaving Twitter."

But ABC had heard this before -- there have been past flare-ups when Barr pledged to stay away from the social network, only to come back days or weeks later.

ABC executives thought -- and hoped -- that Barr would tone down her tweeting and focus on her sitcom.

But that didn't happen. Barr held onto her beloved Twitter presence and the community she has cultivated there.

So when Tuesday's tweets stirred outrage, the question within ABC quickly became, "Is there a path forward?"

In other words, would any apology by Barr or sanction by ABC be sufficient?

The answer was no. By 9 a.m. Pacific time, it was clear to the virtually assembled executives that the sitcom would be canceled.

"There was no way to come back from this," one of the sources said.

While the executives were conferring, critics on social media were starting to point out the network's silence about the controversy. It was starting to get coverage on TV and on major news websites. ABC viewers, advertisers and rival networks were all watching to see what the network would say and do.

It was easy to imagine an ad boycott against "Roseanne" and other ABC programs. However, ABC sources said advertisers were not a factor in the decision.

After 9 a.m. Pacific, the conversation turned to when and how to cancel the show. A call was arranged with Barr, her publicist, and executive producer Tom Werner, whose production company Carsey-Werner owns the sitcom.

On the call, ABC conveyed that "there was no way to come back from this," one of the sources said.

Meantime, some of Barr's colleagues were starting to speak out. Shortly after 9 a.m. Pacific, Wanda Sykes, a consulting producer on the series, said on Twitter that she wouldn't be a part of season two.

Then one of the show's stars, Sara Gilbert, tweeted that Barr's comments were "abhorrent."

She said the sitcom is "separate and apart from the opinions and words of one cast member."

True -- but Barr's name is the title of the show.

According to The New York Times, Tuesday happened to be the writing and producing staff's first day back at work for season two.

An ABC source confirmed this and said the staffers were just beginning to arrive when the cancellation news hit at 10:48 a.m. Pacific.

The executives decided that Dungey should issue the statement, and then Iger would follow up with a tweet.

Dungey kept it to one sentence: "Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show."

Related: Disney CEO Bob Iger: It was the 'right thing' to cancel 'Roseanne'

Later in the day, an ABC executive expressed regret that more than 200 people involved in the making of "Roseanne" would be out of work as a result of the cancellation.

But the source pointedly blamed Barr, saying "that's the collateral damage that Roseanne has to live with."

Barr is said to be drafting a contrite statement, although it's unclear when or if she will release it.

Werner, her longtime producing partner, told Deadline.com that he supported ABC's decision.

He said he hoped "Roseanne seeks the help she so clearly needs."</s>NEW YORK (AP) — ABC canceled its hit reboot of "Roseanne" on Tuesday following star Roseanne Barr's racist tweet that referred to former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett as a product of the Muslim Brotherhood and the "Planet of the Apes."

ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey said the comment "is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values." Barr apologized and deleted her Monday-night tweet, calling it a "bad joke," but the damage had already been done.

Late Tuesday, Barr tweeted a second apology to the writers and co-stars of the show and urging people not to feel sorry for her. She also highlighted supporters' tweets that criticized ABC and two of its personalities, Joy Behar and Keith Olbermann.

She also retweeted a meme that juxtaposed shots of President Donald Trump next to orangutans, and an image of Jarrett next to a picture of a "Planet of the Apes" actress.

The defiant tweetstorm capped a day that saw Barr resoundingly criticized by fellow actors, cast mates and others, and abandoned by several companies, including her talent agency, ICM Partners.

The revival of the comedy was a surprise smash for ABC, owned by the Walt Disney Co., and was counted on to lead the network's fortunes next season. Its first new episode in March was seen by more than 25 million people, with delayed viewing counted in, numbers that are increasingly rare in network television. ABC expected advertisers to pay millions of dollars for the chance to be seen during commercial breaks on television's most popular comedy after "The Big Bang Theory."

And it was all killed in a 53-character tweet.

One of the few network shows about a working-class family, "Roseanne" attracted considerable attention upon its return when Barr's character supported Trump. That made the show popular with conservative viewers, and Trump himself suggested the character's backing had a lot to do with the show's success.

Barr herself has a history of diving into political conspiracy theories on her Twitter feed, and she ended her Memorial Day weekend with a series of statements. She criticized Democratic financier George Soros and tweeted that Chelsea Clinton was "Chelsea Soros Clinton," implying she was married to a nephew of Soros. Clinton herself corrected Barr online. Donald Trump Jr. retweeted two of Barr's statements about Soros, although not the remark about Jarrett.

Jarrett, who is black, was brought up in response to Twitter commentary that raised her name in relation to an Obama conspiracy theory. Barr tweeted: "muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj."

She later tweeted an apology to Jarrett. "Forgive me," she wrote. "My joke was in bad taste."

Jarrett, who appeared at the taping of an MSNBC show about racism on Tuesday, said she hoped the incident could be turned into a teaching moment.

"I'm fine," she said. "I'm worried about the people out there who don't have a circle of friends and followers who come right to their defense."

Barr was quickly condemned. Comic Wanda Sykes, a "Roseanne" writer, tweeted that she wouldn't be returning to the show. Sara Gilbert, a co-star, also tweeted that the remark was abhorrent.

It was a quick decision at ABC for Dungey, who is the first African-American to serve as programming chief for one of the major broadcast networks, and her boss, network president Ben Sherwood. Disney chief executive Robert Iger tweeted his approval: "There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing."

Three weeks earlier, "Roseanne" was the toast of ABC's annual presentation of its programming plans to advertisers. Sherwood even joked then: "If anyone came to play a drinking game based on how many times we mention 'Roseanne,' you're welcome."

"Roseanne" earned an estimated $45 million in advertising revenue for ABC through its nine episodes that started airing in March, according to Kantar Media. The firm estimates that the 13 episodes that had been ordered for next season would have brought in as much as $60 million, with more through repeat episodes.

Hulu and the Laff comedy channel said Tuesday they were pulling re-runs of "Roseanne" from their schedules.

The cancellation has no clear precedent in television history, said David Bianculli, professor at Rowan University in New Jersey. The closest analogy is CBS pulling the plug on the Smothers Brothers variety show due to their anti-war views in the late 1960s and the same network not renewing "Lou Grant" at its peak, which star Ed Asner always contended was due to his outspoken political beliefs.

"Roseanne Barr's comments were appalling and reminiscent of horrific time in our history when racism was not only acceptable but promoted by Hollywood," said Derrick Johnson, NAACP president and CEO. "We applaud ABC for taking a stand against racism by canceling 'Roseanne.' We commend the network and ... Dungey for placing the values of diversity, inclusion and respect for humanity above ratings."

Barr got what she deserved, said Shonda Rhimes, creator of hit ABC shows like "Grey's Anatomy" and "Scandal."

"As I tell my 4-year-old, one makes a choice with one's actions," Rhimes tweeted. "Roseanne made a choice. A racist one. ABC made a choice. A human one."

ICM dropped Barr within hours of the cancellation, saying in a statement that the agency was "greatly distressed by the disgraceful and unacceptable" tweet. Bruce Helford, executive producer of "Roseanne," said he was "personally horrified and saddened by the comments and in no way do they reflect the values of the people who worked so hard to make this the iconic show that it is."

AP writers Mark Kennedy, Jocelyn Noveck and Leanne Italie in New York and Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed to this report.</s>Roseanne Barr has returned to Twitter to apologise to Valerie Jarrett for a tweet comparing her to an ape and to her colleagues who lost their jobs following the cancellation of her sitcom.

US TV network ABC cancelled Barr’s show, Roseanne, after she sent a tweet referring to former Barack Obama adviser Jarrett as a product of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Planet of the Apes.

Barr (65) later deleted the tweet and apologised before saying she would be quitting Twitter but has now returned, saying sorry to both her colleagues and Jarrett.

Tagging Jarrett, she wrote: “I want to apologize to you. I am very sorry to have hurt you. I hope you can accept this sincere apology!”

Earlier she apologised to her colleagues on Roseanne who lost their jobs following the show’s cancellation.

She wrote:“ Don’t feel sorry for me, guys!!-I just want to apologize to the hundreds of people,and wonderful writers (all liberal) and talented actors who lost their jobs on my show due to my stupid tweet.”

In a longer statement issued to Buzzfeed News, Barr again said sorry for the “thoughtless joke” and asked for forgiveness.

As well as the apology, Barr also retweeted messages of support from fans who had backed the star using the hashtag #StandWithRoseanne.

One tweet juxtaposed Barr’s comparison of Jarrett with an ape to other posts comparing images of Donald Trump to orangutans.

Barr also revealed she would be appearing on US comedian Joe Rogan’s podcast on Friday.

Following her original comments, Barr was widely condemned from celebrities including her own castmates.

Writing on Twitter, British actress Minnie Driver, who stars in ABC’s Speechless, wrote: “So proud of ABCNetwork for having the ethical compunction to cancel #Rosanne despite the show’s huge numbers. We too make a show about a middle class family, come and watch us instead #speechless Speechless_ABC.”

Sara Gilbert, who starred alongside Barr in Roseanne, labelled her comments “abhorrent”.

She said: “Roseanne’s recent comments about Valerie Jarrett, and so much more, are abhorrent and do not reflect the beliefs of our cast and crew or anyone associated with our show. I am disappointed in her actions to say the least.”

Another of Barr’s co-stars, Emma Kenney, revealed she was ready to quit the show in protest at the comments.

She tweeted: “I am hurt, embarrassed, and disappointed. The racist and distasteful comments from Roseanne are inexcusable.

“As I called my manager to quit working on Roseanne, I was told it was cancelled. I feel so empowered by iamwandasykes, Channing Dungey and anyone at ABC standing up for morals and abuse of power. Bullies will NEVER win.”

Film director Ava DuVernay posted a photo of ABC entertainment boss Channing Dungey, along with the words: “For the record, this is Channing Dungey. Sitting on top of your world like a Queen in full judgement of your garbage and taking it out. #Roseanne.”

Jarret is yet to respond to Barr’s apology tweet, but earlier, speaking on MSNBC, said: “I’m fine. I’m worried about the people out there who don’t have a circle of friends and followers who come right to their defence.”

In March, Barr told ABC’s Good Morning America that Mr Trump had called her to congratulate the ratings success her revived sitcom had experienced.

Barr has been a vocal backer of the US president and also plays one of his supporters in Roseanne.

At the time Barr said the the Republican was happy for her, adding: “I’ve known him for many years and he’s done a lot of nice things for me over the years.”

The return of Roseanne was watched by an estimated 18.4 million viewers in the US. Its original run came to an end in May 1997. – PA
U.S. television network ABC cancels its recently revived sitcom Roseanne following a controversial tweet from Roseanne Barr about former U.S. President Barack Obama aide Valerie Jarrett.