To quote Maya Angelou, “When people show you who they are, believe them – the first time.”
That was the lesson that came to mind last week when in the blink of an eye, one of the highest paid actresses in television was brought down by a racist tweet.
The re-booted Rosanne was given a loud and resounding boot by ABC.
My first thought was how fast the network reacted. Within hours of Roseanne Barr’s disgusting tweet, she was history. There was no waiting period for things to settle down. They didn’t give her a chance to explain or apologize. They didn’t call in the public relations team. That was because there was no possible reasonable explanation and no apology would ever be enough.
What seemed so astonishing was that the big wigs at the network made a decision fast and seemingly for the right reasons without contemplating how much revenue they would lose.
Love her or hate her, the new version of Roseanne was a hit. Eighteen million viewers the first week and around 10 million each week after. It was all set to go into season 2.
I do feel bad for the 300 or so workers who are now left high and dry because she displayed her personal hatred so publicly.
I applaud what Disney CEO Bob Iger tweeted: “There was nothing else to do but the right thing.” How refreshing!
To be honest, I never particularly liked Roseanne. I found it ironic she lives on a nut farm in Hawaii (seriously, an actual macadamia nut farm). I thought she was crass but I did tune in to the re-booted series because it was so political. I wanted to see how they portrayed a Trump supporter versus a Hillary supporter within the family dynamic. It was entertaining. It was hitting all the hot button issues like opiods. (Roseanne Conner got hooked on painkillers for a bad knee), medical costs (Roseanne and Dan had to share drugs because they couldn’t afford both prescriptions), immigration/intolerance (Roseanne was afraid of her Muslim neighbours who were equally as afraid of her). I thought there were some moments in there to make us all think.
Then Roseanne showed us who she was. Again!
Remember the insulting and awkward screeching of the American National Anthem at that ballgame in 1990? She lost me at the moment when she grabbed her crotch and spit.
There have been many other missteps. I was never quite sure if she was kidding or if she was really strange - now we know she is evil.
Looking back, she was photographed in a satirical magazine wearing a Nazi uniform taking cookies shaped as people out of an oven. Let that sink in.
Now, she has tried to blame Ambien saying she was tweeting while on the sleep medication. I’m not buying it. I just don’t think you spew venom – drugged, drunk or otherwise – if you are someone who doesn’t already have it in your heart.
Best tweet came from the makers of Ambien: “Racism is not a known side effect of our drug.”
Roseanne told us repeatedly and in many ways who she really is.
“When people show you who they are, believe them – the first time.”
