Roseanne Barr is a comedian, actress, and one of the more notable victims of cancel culture. Back in 2018, she was enjoying a popular resurgence after a revival of her '90s sitcom, Roseanne, achieved massive success on ABC. Roseanne, the television character, and real-life Roseanne were both ardent supporters of Donald Trump, and while the show did not necessarily promote a specific political viewpoint, it was nevertheless well-liked by conservatives. Trump himself called Barr to congratulate her.
And then she tweeted.
The tweet—written while Barr was apparently in an Ambien-induced fog and sent at 2 a.m.—concerned Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to former President Barack Obama. Barr said that Jarrett was what would result from the union of "the Muslim Brotherhood and Planet of the Apes." Jarrett is a black woman, and thus Barr had repurposed a vicious, racist caricature: comparing a black person to an ape. Barr was universally condemned as a racist, and ABC swiftly canceled her show.
