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Roseanne Barr: ‘I Cannot Let ***holes Win’

Superstar vows to set record straight on Fox Nation's 'Cancel This!' special

Roseanne Barr finally gets to tell her side of the story from the most appropriate venue.

The stand-up stage.

That’s where Barr first introduced her “Domestic Goddess” routine, a riff on blue-collar moms struggling with bills, parenthood and more. Her stand-up snagged the attention of “The Tonight Show,” and her 1985 appearance with Johnny Carson begat one of the most consequential sitcoms of the late 20th century.

“Roseanne.”

We all know what happened when Barr rebooted the series in 2018. A single, racially ugly Tweet canceled “Roseanne” and the comic herself.

Now, Barr is back courtesy of Fox Nation.

“Roseanne Barr: Cancel This!” lets the sitcom legend tell her side of the story, along with the kind of wisecracks that forged her idiosyncratic career. The one-hour special, debuting Feb. 13 on the streaming platform, was recorded at the Cullen Theater in Houston, Texas.

Roseanne Barr to Make BIG Return on February 13th on Fox Nation

A teaser clip provided to Hollywood in Toto finds Barr addressing both the controversy and her deeply personal reaction to it. She says ABC’s decision to continue the Conner family saga, while killing off her character, insulted the show’s legion of fans.

She’s right, of course. It also smeared a performer who paved the way for future women in Hollywood who dreamed of creating shows on their terms.

Barr’s “Roseanne” years were notoriously bumpy, but she used her clout and creativity to tell her stories, her way. Women may take that for granted today, but it was highly unusual in the late 1980s.

The teaser focuses on Barr’s meditations on her Cancel Culture fight, and she sounds ready to start punching back.

RELATED: JUSSIE’S BACK … WHAT ABOUT ROSEANNE?

She also shares a great idea that could have pushed the conversation on race forward, instead of silencing her voice and career in one fell swoop.

Why not have one (or more) of Barr’s critics appear on the show, in character, and have a fictional exchange inspired by TweetGate?

“We could’ve had a teachable moment that they’re all talking about … I could’ve had 15 times the ratings and I could’ve learned something on behalf and shown something to America, which I always wanted to do that very thing anyway. Bringing people together and learn about each other, right?”

That instinct, pragmatic with a dash of populism, is why Barr became a star in the first place. And it might be better than any subsequent episode of “The Conners.”

The ABC suits turned the idea down before firing her.

Now, Barr says she couldn’t stay on the sidelines without sharing her take on the cancellation.

“And that’s why I came back, even though I was like, why would you want to do that after what they did? But I came back because I just -– something’s wrong with me or something. I just –- something’s in me. I just cannot let ***holes win. I’m not. I’m not going to.”

It’s worth noting the crowd cheered every pugnacious line. That’s fine – any time Barr returns to the stage she’ll attract her hardcore fan base. 

The special needs more than letting Barr tee off on her critics. It should remind us why Barr matters in the first place, and how her singular voice took America by storm 30-plus years ago. 

 

 
 
 
 
 
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Hollywood unfairly silenced Barr, no doubt. The comic legend’s crime, a terrible, awful Tweet, pales compared to what other stars have done and faced few if any, consequences.

Think Alec Baldwin, Bette Midler, Jimmy Kimmel and Ezra Miller for the short list.

Barr deserves a comeback chance, should she even want one at this point.

14 Comments

  1. Terrible, awful tweet? Seriously?! The joke may have been in poor taste for some, but lets not treat it like she committed genocide here. It was a funny joke about an idiot bureaucrat who happened to be non-white, made by a Trump-supporting white woman (her true “sin”). I come here to avoid woke virtue signaling, not have more of it crammed down my throat by supposed conservatives.

    1. Roseanne is funny glad she is back so what about her joke its comedy people. No to cancel culture. By the way there are a lot of jokes told about white people too. Guess you dont listen to the great comedians. Too bad!!!!!!

  2. They rejected Roseanne Barr’s suggestion to solve the problem she caused with her original comments because they wanted to show that they could punish her and destroy her.

    Giving Society a solution that healed and help people understand was never their intention nor their desire.

  3. They rejected her solution to the problem she caused, because if they had accepted it would proved her right. Valarie Jarret is one of those black Americans who you cannot tell is Black unless she tells you. No one could be faulted for thinking she was a White woman and thus fair game for any insults (as the left sees things).

  4. I love Roseanne and the liberal media hates her so all the different liberal media sites saying it isn’t worth your time to watch means nothing considering they are coming from their hate of her. It was so wrong the way she was cancelled. I hate this time we are now living in where people get cancelled because they don’t think the same way or agree on things. It’s not ok. And quite frankly it’s scary cause it could happen to anyone if you say or do the “wrong” thing. The “wrong” thing being something the woke mob doesn’t agree with.

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