Prior to May 29th of 2017, Roseanne Barr had it good.
She had just revived her show "Roseanne," which was welcomed back with massive ratings.The revival was so successful, that ABC had renewed the show for another season. On top of that, the success of the revived show made her quite an influential voice. By making her character a supporter of President Donald Trump (reflecting her real-life support for him), Roseanne was praised for giving conservatives a prominent voice in an overwhelmingly liberal entertainment industry.
But then, she remembered she is Roseanne Barr.
Roseanne took to Twitter that fateful Tuesday morning to pick a fight with Valerie Jarrett, who was an adviser to former President Barack Obama. In her infamous tweet, Roseanne called Jarrett the result of when the Muslim Brotherhood and the Planet of the Apes have a baby. The backlash against Roseanne's blatantly racist comment was swift, which culminated in "Roseanne" being canceled. After an initial apology, Roseanne (and a group of conservatives that includes Trump himself) has tried to make herself the victim in this situation. Her Twitter feed has seen her blame everything from Ambien to a supposed suppression of her First Amendment rights.
However, it simply cannot be denied that Roseanne has no one to blame for her sudden fall from grace but herself.
Roseanne has been a controversial figure for decades. Among her most controversial acts include dressing up as Hitler taking out "Jew cookies" out of an oven, endorsing 9/11 truther conspiracies, and shrieking her way through a rendition of the National Anthem as a joke (which makes conservatives' embracement of her all the more ironic, given their general view on the NFL protests). Roseanne's tweet about Valerie Jarrett wasn't even the first time she made a racially charged comment about a member of Barack Obama's administration. Back in 2013, Roseanne called Obama's national security adviser Susan Rice a "man with swinging ape balls."
On top of her controversial reputation, Roseanne can't blame ABC for its supposed liberal bias. Her conservative views were actually the reason why ABC revived "Roseanne" in the first place. ABC realized that the "Trump demographic," a group of people who feel mocked and dismissed by Hollywood, would passionately support a show that portrayed them in a positive light. If ABC really had it out for Roseanne because her conservative views, they would've never even entertained the thought of reviving the show. Plus, ABC knew exactly the kind of person Roseanne was, controversies and all, and brought her on board anyway.
Roseanne Barr had the world at her fingertips. She benefited from a network that was willing to overlook her history of controversy and an audience ready to latch on to any prominent celebrity that shared their viewpoints. However, she insisted on maintaining a personality that always ran the risk of her going one step too far. When that moment finally happened, she got what she deserved.
Roseanne and her defenders can cry free speech and what-about-isms all they want. It doesn't change the fact that she and hundreds of other people just lost their jobs, and its all her fault.
While we're talking about revivals, if a major network can revive "Drake and Josh," that would be great.
