Praising ABC's decision to cancel the show following the star's racist tweet, Kimmel plays on his talk show a fake trailer centering on Roseanne's husband Dan Conner, played by John Goodman.
- May 31, 2018
AceShowbiz - Jimmy Kimmel has praised ABC bosses over their decision to cancel TV show "Roseanne".
The revived series was canned by network executives on Tuesday, May 29 in response to a tweet lead actress Roseanne Barr posted about Valerie Jarrett, an adviser to former U.S. President Barack Obama, who Barr said was a result of the "Muslim brotherhood" and "planet of the apes having a baby".
Tackling the controversy in his monologue for talk show "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on Tuesday night, which airs on the ABC network in the U.S., Kimmel stated it was impossible for him to avoid the "biggest story of the day".
"You're not going to believe this but she tweeted something outrageous," he said of Barr's offensive Twitter message. "ABC today decided to cancel their highest-rated show, Roseanne, following a tweet in which Roseanne compared an African-American woman, a former advisor to President Obama, to an ape. Which did not sit well with ABC management - or anyone with a brain, really."
Kimmel went on to joke that Roseanne's cancellation was a "huge blow" to ABC due to its viewer popularity and less-than-stellar current line-up of shows.
"We don't have much on this network. We're hoping the NBA finals goes 11 games this year. We're still airing 'America's Funniest Home Videos'," the 50-year-old smiled. "Roseanne was a very 'bigly' hit for ABC and we needed it."
To conclude his opener, Kimmel jokingly argued that Roseanne could go on without its lead star, and proceeded to show a humorous trailer for Dan, a show centred on the character of Dan Conner, Roseanne's onscreen husband, as played by John Goodman.
Earlier this month, the TV host also made fun of Roseanne's influence at ABC's upfront presentation.
"So we're saying goodbye to Shondaland and we're going head-first into Roseanne-istan with no exit plan," he joked, referring to Shonda Rhimes' TV company, which is now in partnership with Netflix. "Our new strategy is resurrecting old c**p, and with that said I have three words for you: 'Who's the Boss?' I mean, literally - who the hell is running this network?".
