Still, Network Ten’s swift response today is in interesting contrast to another case where commercial broadcasters are in the firing line over ethics. In response to Barr’s tweet about Jarrett, Gay simply tweeted: “I told y’all about Roseanne. Even though she found the show itself funny, calling the first episode “excellent”, Gay said she could no longer watch because “no amount of mental gymnastics can make what Roseanne Barr has said and done in recent years palatable”. Noting just how hard it can sometimes be to “separate the art from the artist”, Gay argued persuasively against watching the reboot because of Roseanne’s politics and previous hateful speech on Twitter and other public platforms.
This did raise questions for some fans.Īs writer Roxane Gay beautifully articulated in her review of the Roseanne reboot for The New York Times, many fans of the show had faced an uncomfortable tension between loving the character Roseanne Conner and being increasingly alarmed by the actor Roseanne Barr. When the show returned in the current American political climate much was made of Roseanne being a “Trump supporter” while her sister Jackie (Laurie Metcalf) was clearly on the other side. The decision to remove Roseanne’s show is also one that points to questions about the kinds of people commercial television feels it wants to support in 2018. The ape insult: a short history of a racist idea Rather, it was a power exchange designed to directly belittle, marginalise and insult based on race. In fact, it was not actually a joke at all. However, there is more to consider than “bad” and “taste” here. Roseanne has described her “bad joke” as being “in poor taste”. How refreshing it is to not be facing waves of ads exploiting the show’s controversial nature, which is the other way networks could have acted, given the attention the tweet has received.
In Australia and overseas Roseanne has significant advertising draw. They are swift, direct, made with certainty and demonstrate that, for some, there is a clear line even money can’t cross. These actions show rare leadership in the commercial sector.