Roseanne Barr was fired because she posted a racist tweet about Valerie Jarrett, a former senior advisor to President Barack Obama. In the tweet, Barr compared Jarrett, who is Black, to the offspring of the "Muslim Brotherhood & Planet of the Apes." This comment was widely condemned as racist. Despite Barr's apology and claiming she was "Ambien tweeting" (implying she was under the influence of the sleep aid Ambien at the time), ABC canceled her hit TV show "Roseanne" just hours after the tweet due to the offensive nature of her remarks and the inconsistency with the network's values.
The cancellation was swift and decisive, reflecting the seriousness with which ABC and its parent company Disney treated the incident, with ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey calling the tweet "abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values." The show had been a top-rated revival, making the cancellation a significant and rare move in television.