It was reported last week that a Roseanne without Roseanne Barr was being seriously considered after its eponymous star tweeted racist abuse. That idea was said to be in limbo because Barr would still profit from her show due to intellectual-property rights.
Now, an intriguing report on Page Six suggests Barr is contemplating cutting herself out of any deal in order to allow the new show to go ahead, in an effort to make amends to cast and crew on the canceled ABC reboot.
Page Six reports that Barr is “seriously considering” forgoing any profits from the new show, which would focus on another family member—most likely Darlene.
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A source close to the disgraced comic—who, a source says, is “hunkered down” with her parents in Utah—tells Page Six: “Roseanne feels so bad about her antics she is trying to figure out a way to help people harmed by the cancellation. She’s considering giving up financial and creative participation in a spinoff so the people she loves can have jobs. Barr holding on is a stumbling block.”
This week she finally apologized for accusing George Soros of being a Nazi collaborator in an unhinged and racist tweetstorm that she has sought to blame on her use of the sleep medication Ambien. In fact, the financier was imprisoned by the Nazis and many of his family were killed in the Holocaust.
Speculation abounds about which character would be at the center of the spinoff, but insiders told Page Six “the smart money is on Darlene and her family.”
Barr was fired in May after tweeting a series of offensive and racist remarks, including one that said, of former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, “Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=[Jarrett].”
The new series was pulled and reruns of the show’s massive back catalog have also been pulled from cable.
Last week, Barr tweeted, “I’m making restitution for the pain I have caused,” however she then cast doubt on the sincerity of her attempts to do that by retweeting a message from a fan who replied to her saying, “You didn’t cause any pain. Those people always hated you. Valerie Jarrett wants Israelis and Jews chased into the sea, and she’ll celebrate.”
The move was reminiscent of her first “apology,” which was accompanied by more racist opinions.
So, it’s perhaps easy to understand why showrunner Whitney Cummings (below) has decided it’s best not to have her as an executive producer, then.
