Viacom Nets, Hulu, Laff All Pulling 'Roseanne' Repeats
Updated, Tuesday, May 29, 2018 at 7:05 pm ET
Viacom cable networks Paramount Network, TV Land and CMT will be pulling repeats of Roseanne off their schedules starting Wednesday, May 30, a representative confirmed. In addition, Hulu is removing the show from its site and multicast net Laff will no longer air it, representatives from those services confirmed.
ABC canceled the new version of the series on Tuesday after star Roseanne Barr posted a racist tweet about Valerie Jarrett, former advisor to President Barack Obama, overnight on Monday. Barr apologized and said she was leaving Twitter, but it was not enough to save the show.
"Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show,” said ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey in a statement on Tuesday.
Disney CEO Bob Iger later reiterated that decision in a tweet, saying “there was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing.”
ABC has pulled the show from Emmy contention, and Barr’s talent agency, ICM, dropped her. Information about the show also is no longer available on ABC's press site.
All three Viacom-owned networks were airing Roseanne repeats, with TV Land having aired a marathon of the series over Memorial Day weekend and Paramount Network just adding the show in April. Paramount Network will instead air a mix of acquired and original programming in its stead, said a network spokesman.
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Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.